SqS ' TATEMENT NO. 3
6 December, 1972
EQUAL PAY CASE
The Prime Minister, Mr. Whitlam, this afternoon
authorised a written application to the Industrial Registrar
asking to have the recent hearing on equal pay before the Full
Bench of the Arbitration Commission re-opened.
The application was made after detailed consultations
with Labor's Minister for Industrial Reloations, Mr. C. R. Cameron.
The Commonwealth hopes that its application for a
re-opening will be heard in Melbourne on Friday.
Mr. Whitlam said that if the case were re-opened, the
Commonwealth would give full support to the A. C. T. U. claim
before the Commission on equal pay.
The McMahon Government had opposed the application
seeking a phasing in of new equal pay provisions.
If successful, the new equal pay application would mean
the extension of equal pay to women workers excluded by the
Commission's 1969 judgement on the equal pay question.
Women in industries employing predominantly females
were excluded from the application of that judgement.
The recent A. C. T. U. application, for which
submissions concluded on 29 November, would remove all
discrimination on the grounds of sex.
CANBERRA. A. C. T.
PRESS STATEMENT NO 3 - 6 DECEMBER 1972
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