Challenging the ‘care penalty’: The Queensland pay equity campaign for community services workers

Abstract

In 2009, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission delivered a historic pay equity decision for the social and community services sector in Queensland. Employers were persuaded not to oppose the need for pay equity, and government -the major funder of the sector -was persuaded to agree to funding increases, as a result of a campaign coordinated by the relevant trade union, the Queensland Services Union, and the peak body representing the sector, the Queensland Council of Social Service. Informed by participant observation, interviews and documentary analysis, this article identifies key elements of the campaign's success using the literature on union campaign strategy, especially studies of coalitions. The study contributes to the developing literature on 'care movements' and to knowledge of strategies for building and maintaining successful campaign coalitions involving unions.

The community dimensions of union renewal: racialized and caring relations in personal support services

“…BME members interviewed emphasize how the union protects against some recipients' racialized preferences and ensures employers address complaints on a fair basis. At the same time, these findings also support previous care work studies underscoring the importance of alliances with recipients based in caring relations (Bailey et al, 2014;Brown, 2009;Mareschal, 2006;Murphy and Turner, 2014).…”

“…BME members emphasize the union as a protective force, focusing on fair handling of complaints and problems, more so than white members; whereas white members viewed the union as interfering with recipient care more so than BME members. These views of BME members contrast with existing literature on caring relations with recipients (Bailey et al, 2014;Brown, 2009;Mareschal, 2006;Murphy and Turner, 2014).…”

“…Studies of care worker and domestic worker organizing address different community dimensions of union renewal. The former emphasizes how gendered social relations foster positive relationships between workers and service recipients, and how positive relationships inform issues important to care workers and unions’ or professional associations’ strategies to organize and represent them (Bailey et al, 2014; Brown, 2009; Mareschal, 2006; Murphy and Turner, 2014). One aspect of gendered relations is a caring ethic that shapes the reasons why care workers enter this work and their commitment to service (Armstrong, 1993; Baines et al, 2015; Briskin, 2012; Lopez, 2004).…”

Doing Gender, Paying Low: Gender, Class and Work–Life Balance in Aged Care

“…In countries such as New Zealand, Australia and the UK, where governments and the public sector are key funders of aged care, it could be argued that the low wages in aged care work are a result of the capitalist system that funds it. Indeed, government decisions to outsource the funding of care work have been shown to exacerbate low wages (Bailey et al, 2014;Ravenswood and Kaine, 2015;Rubery and Urwin, 2011). However, government decisions are also influenced by social and institutional attitudes and norms (Bourgeault and Khokher, 2006), as are wages (Gregory and Duncan, 1981).…”

The restructuring of WA human services and its implications for the not‐for‐profit sector

“…These comments reinforce the notion that care workers are 'prisoners of love' and exploitation within NfPs (see Morris 2009;Eveline & Palmer 2012). Bailey et al (2012) quote the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) account of the several drivers of devaluation of care work: a prevailing perception that the caring skills of women are inherent; the widespread community view that care work is a vocation rather than an occupation; its evolution from volunteer work, and the close associations with unpaid labour that this entails; and reliance on the commitment of workers to their roles as an ongoing means of undercompensating them.…”