There was dancing in the streets of Lismore when hundreds of red and purple-clad Social and Community Service (SACS) workers and their supporters rallied for the right to equal pay on  June 8.  Many of them wore moustaches to symbolise gender inequality as they followed a white-clad Elvis in a march and choreographed dance around the Lismore CBD, calling for a wage rise in the female-dominated community service sector.

The rally was part of a national day of action calling for both the federal and state governments to take action to ensure that thousands of community sector workers received equal re-numeration for their work. It followed a recent decision by Fair Work Australia which found that social and community service workers are not receiving equal pay and that a significant cause of the pay gap is because of gender.

Rally organisers are calling for government to ensure that adequate funds are committed to a wage rise in the sector which will allow the quality and quantity of services to remain unaffected.

Australian Services Union (ASU) organiser Punita Boardman addressed the rally and said people who worked packing shelves at the supermarket received higher pay rates than youth workers in the community sector who work with some of the most  disadvantaged people  in society.

"It will be a great day when the community sector has enough money so they don't have to hold a cake stall to raise funds to help people,"  Ms Boardman said. "The funds we have been asking for need to be committed by the state government."

NRSDC Youth programs manager Brett Paradise also addressed the rally and pointed out that people working on the community sector were often highly skilled and should be paid the same amount as others in similar roles in the public service.

"Working in this sector entails dealing with people with complex needs and emotional blocks, and you need to be able to interpret law and write reports. These people often need to have university qualifications in psychology or teaching  highly skilled workers to be able to do this. It's about time we got equal pay."

The march finished at the office of Member for Page, Thomas George, where people filed in and called for Mr George to come out and speak to them about the issue. Mr George was not available, but a delegation was invited to meet with him after the rally to speak with him about their concerns.

Maralyn Schofield from the Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre said she was concerned that a SACS wage increase could result in some community services being cut and wanted assurance from government that all services would continue to be funded.

"We have the highest levels of disadvantage in communities here in the Northern Rivers area," Ms Schofield said. "If we don't continue to get the same levels of funding we currently receive, vulnerable people may no longer be able access much needed services."

"In Western Australia and Queensland,  state governments have already approved funding for the wage increase. We need the NSW government to agree to fund the increase here too."

This week, a number of delegations of SACS advocates including members of ACOSS met with government MPs to outline their concerns about the viability and effectiveness of services and the need for funding to address this, including for higher wages to address the significant problems facing services in attracting and retaining workers.

ASU organiser Amber McBride encourages people to phone or email their local government members to ask them to bring pressure on government to support the wage increase. The Federal member for Page, Janelle Saffin can be emailed at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

"It's make or break  right now for equal pay," Ms Mc Bride said.