COMMUNITY sector workers gathered at Civic Square for today’s Equal Pay Rally, which ACT Greens spokesperson for Community Services, Meredith Hunter, says is about a clear and indefensible injustice.

“The community sector workforce is 85 per cent female, and workers are underpaid by 16-80 per cent when compared to workers in other sectors with equivalent duties and qualifications,” Ms Hunter says.

“Community sector workers are out there supporting people at risk of ending up on the street, in hospital or in the justice system.  This intervention helps ease a great cost to both society and government.

“And yet, despite usually requiring tertiary education, community workers receive far less pay, fewer conditions and work longer hours than equivalent employees in other sectors.

“When we treat the community sector workers like this it becomes an uphill battle to keep experienced staff.

“The situation is clear and indefensible, and I believe the more people become aware of this inequality, the harder it becomes for the Government and Opposition to ignore the issue.

“I fear that if we don’t see a major improvement for this sector we risk losing a generation of highly skilled and valuable community workers,” Ms Hunter said.

Photos by Silas Brown