Nobody really likes talking about how much they earn, especially when your wages are low. But what if that’s exactly what we need to start doing?
Pay secrecy is used by employers as a way to hide different rates of pay awarded to employees. Unfortunately, it’s often used as a way to pay women less than their male co-workers, without anyone knowing.
Imagine you’re a woman working as a bartender at a busy pub. There are heaps of other staff working there, all on different pay rates. Some are pretty experienced and have been working there for ages, others are casual or transient backpackers on working tourist visas.
The owner is friends with a lot of the male staff, and a lot of the casual staff are also blokes.
All the staff are a similar age and get along well, and a lot of them hang around together outside work at sports events. You also get stuck doing a lot of the cleaning up duties and less of the chatting and joking around with customers.
You get chatting to one of your co-workers, who says some of the men who work there are paid more than female staff, even though they have less experience.
When you were hired, the owner said he had a strict rule about discussing wages with other employees, because some of the staff are less experienced so are paid at a lower level. He was very firm about not wanting any staff to create a problem by discussing pay rates, because it’s important , he says, that all the staff get along.
At the time, it seemed like he meant you were being paid more because you are an experienced bartender. Now you’re worried it’s actually because you’re being paid less than some of your male co-workers who are friendlier with the boss, but have less experience in the industry.
What should you do?
I think I’m being paid less than my co-workers
- Talk to your co-workers about their pay rate
- If your co-workers don’t want to talk about it, ask your employer what other employees are paid for the same job you’re doing
- You have a right to the same pay rate as other workers doing your job at the same level and experience
- If you find that women workers are paid less at your workplace, you can raise this with your boss, or ask your union delegate to raise it. If you don’t have a delegate at your workplace, you can call your union for support and advice.
- It’s illegal to pay people less for equal value work. Unfortunately, women, LGBTIQ+, migrant and young workers (18-24) are the most affected by pay discrimination in the workplace.
Unions campaigned for many years against pay secrecy because it entrenches inequality.
When workers don’t know what their co-workers are being paid, they can’t be sure their work is being valued equally. It’s not good for teamwork and, it turns out, it’s not that good for women either.
Pay secrecy has been outlawed in Australia since 2022
The Albanese government introduced changes to the Fair Work Act in 2022 with the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill to prohibit pay secrecy in employment contracts.
Before this, it was common practice for employers to make pay secrecy a condition in many employment contracts – especially for executive roles.
Outlawing pay secrecy is one way to blow the whistle on discrimination against women workers.
There’s also reason to believe that pay transparency benefits workers at all levels, not just at the top.
Less secrecy means more equality – across the whole workforce.
Equal pay for equal value work is at the core of the historic and modern campaigns to close the gender pay gap. Pay transparency is a significant step towards achieving a more equal workforce.
Who are some of our worst offenders?
Australia’s banks are some of the worst offenders when it comes to the gender pay gap. Of the big four, Commbank comes out the worst with a gender pay gap of 29 per cent.
Figures from 2022-23 reveal that more than half (56 per cent) of Commbank’s employees are women, and among these women workers, 72 per cent are in the lowest pay group. In contrast, 63 per cent of employees in the highest pay group are men.
Despite having a policy to achieve gender pay equality, Commbank performed poorly on policies regarding pay transparency.
Commbank does not have any policy on transparency for employee pay scales and bands, nor does it have a policy to maintain transparent performance assessment processes.
Do you know what the pay gap policies are at your workplace?
It’s now law for employers to be proactive about reviewing their current practices and policies to ensure they’re doing what they can to close their gender pay gap.
So, it’s a good time to ask your employer what their policies are.
Workplaces with fewer than 100 employees are not required to report on their gender pay gap. But that doesn’t mean you can’t ask your boss if they are reviewing their workplace to measure differences in pay levels between men and women. And pay transparency laws mean they have to tell you.
For example, are women unable to work overtime because of responsibilities in the home, while men are getting paid extra penalties for overtime?
Do managers enjoy more flexibility and higher pay, while many women have to reduce their hours at work to juggle unpaid labour in the home?
Could changes be made in your workplace to give women workers equal opportunities when it comes to their roles and salaries?
Now that companies with over 100 employees must report on their gender pay gap, workers have more information to help them decide where they might want to work, or what needs to change in their current workplace to improve salaries and conditions for women workers.
Pay transparency helps us exercise our right to equal pay for equal-value work.
If you believe in gender equality, now is the time to get behind our campaign. If you’re not already a member of your union, join now.
