“THE federal government has bowed to union and community sector anger and signed back on to support equal pay for women.
A letter by Workplace Minister Chris Evans has changed a government submission to the equal pay test case being heard by Fair Work Australia.
A dispute erupted in the final sitting week of Parliament as unions and the Australian Council of Social Services accused the government of abandoning a deal to support the case covering 153,000, mostly women, community-sector workers.
The commonwealth provides half the sector's funding, and its original submission had said any pay rise awarded by the tribunal would lead to cuts to other government services, because it needed to bring the budget back to surplus.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard took personal offence at the ensuing backlash and ordered the problem be fixed.
{The Age on 14th December 2010}
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