NSW librarians test case completed

On 12 November, the Full Bench of the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission adjourned for the last time in the landmark pay equity test case for library workers and archivists. The Bench has now fully-ratified the new Crown employees [librarians, library assistants, library technicians and archivists] award 2002.

The award rescinds the interim award ordered in March this year to give effect to the hefty pay increases granted then by the Bench but, of course, incorporates those rates. Readers will recall that they are the largest pay rises ever won by a significant section of the Australian library workforce, ranging up to 26 per cent per annum.

The new final award now builds on that judgement by adopting firm qualification standards and detailed classification descriptors. Both acknowledge ALIA's critical role in determining appropriate arrangements for the sector. In the case of qualifications, the Full Bench has determined that the standard for the category 'librarian' shall be a person holding qualifications acceptable for professional membership of ALIA. The same approach has been taken with 'library technician'. For 'library assistant' the definition is a person 'who is eligible for enrolment in a course of study that leads to a qualification acceptable for either professional or library technician membership of ALIA'.

Classification descriptors are vastly better than in previous, and most other, awards or agreements. For all library-worker grades, description of work at the various levels is based very substantially on ALIA's Work-level guidelines.

Both these outcomes represent great advances, both for the conditions of employment enjoyed by NSW government-employed library workers and for ALIA's status and profile.

So ends a 6-year project. As previously indicated, many organisations and individuals have made very valuable contributions to this splendid achievement. Yet none can match the tireless efforts of the small group of workplace delegates, led by Kate Burnham of Attorney General's, that did most of the work - and in their own time too! They simply refused to yield when others flagged. All ALIA members owe a strong vote of thanks to Kate, and to her colleagues Martin Stott, Leon Parissi and Sau Foster.