Childcare sector shutdown prompts new legislation
These multimedia stories were created by ECU Journalism students and are shared in collaboration with RTRFM.
Efforts to shut down the public childcare sector on 7 September have prompted the Australian government to issue a $3120 rise in base wages to all public sector servants across Australia, writes Bianca Gimondo.
New legislation called the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill has also been signed off by federal cabinet, who believe it will help low-paid employees, particularly in female dominated industries, negotiate higher pay.
Last month’s childcare sector shutdown on Early Childhood Educators Day saw more than one thousand childcare centres close their doors, affecting tens of thousands of families, as educators rallied throughout the country.
The United Workers Union voiced three demands on behalf of the sector: a pay increase, for the government to value early learning as part of the education system, and for children to be put before profit. Michelle Baker is a Centre Director at a community based Early Learning centre in Perth.
She attended the rally where she spoke about the the children and the families who really stand to be affected from the industry’s lack of potential.
“What we pride ourselves with is the connection we make for children and when you have educators leaving the children actually lose that connection, the trust they have with their educators and so therefore learning is actually paused,” she said.
The Secure Jobs and Better Pay Bill introduced includes a ban to pay secrecy clauses, meaning companies will no longer be able to prevent their staff from discussing their salaries and more conversations around pay will soon be legally binding.
Edith Cowan University Business and Law Lecturer Dr Uma Ogulu, says this will not address the bigger problems within the public and private childcare sectors.
“I don’t see how it can bridge the gap to be honest because anything to do with childcare, you need a systemic change to take place,” she said.
“You need leadership to be involved. It requires a change from the top down’ if you hand out extra cash, you are just plugging the leak temporarily.”
The new Legislation does, however, seek to bridge the gender pay gap seen in female dominated industries like childcare, something Curtain University Cultural Studies Professor Jo Jones says is of significant cultural concern.
The childcare shutdown has undoubtedly been influenced by the ramifications of Covid-19, however issues within the sector stem from long before the pandemic.
Concerns vary from staff shortages, to poor working conditions, to an undervalued pay rate under the children’s award (2010).
According to the Aussie Childcare Network 16,000 workers are needed across the country and another 75% plan to leave the industry within the next few years.
The Albanese government has announced it will reveal further details about the Secure Jobs and Better Pay Bill in hopes of passing the bill into law toward the end of the year.
