Australia’s aged care workers win 15% pay rise and minister says it’s the ‘first step’

The Fair Work Commission decision to award a 15% pay rise to aged care workers is an interim decision, so there is no timing yet for when it will flow through to some of Australia’s lowest-paid workers. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/The Guardian

Australia’s aged care workers have won a 15% pay rise, with the possibility of more to come, after the Fair Work Commission accepted the sector’s employees were underpaid.

The full bench of the FWC announced its interim decision on Friday afternoon, having accepted the expert evidence that “feminised industries” including care work “has been historically undervalued and the reason for that undervaluation is likely to be gender-based”.