Thousands rally for better pay for women

Community workers fighting a test case for better wages are hoping for a win by Christmas for a sector they say has been undervalued as "women's work".

Thousands of workers from the industry rallied around the nation on Thursday to highlight the gap in community-sector salaries compared with pay rates for public service workers.

In Melbourne, where about 4000 workers marched through the city, Australian Services Union (ASU) assistant secretary Lisa Darmanin said community workers earned 37 per cent less than their government counterparts.

"We find it disgusting that a youth worker working in the community sector gets paid $27,000 less than someone else who is doing the same job in a local council simply because she works in a female-dominated industry," Ms Darmanin said.

"We're outraged that, in this day and age, women in the community sector still are not valued for the work they do."

The ASU focused Thursday's rally on women's rates of pay, as the protests came 38 years after the Arbitration Commission ruled men and women performing the same work should be paid equally.

Women in full-time work across all industries earn 18 per cent less than men, which amounts to about $1 million over a lifetime, recent Australian Bureau of Statistics show.

However, the ASU case at Fair Work Australia to be heard later this year is calling for a $100 a week pay increase for the 200,000 men and women who work in refuges and help migrants, the homeless and those with drug and alcohol addictions.

ASU assistant national secretary Lisa White said the union lodged its evidence with the industrial watchdog this week and the case was set to be heard in September or October.

"We're hoping for a decision by the end of the year," she told AAP.

Ms White said federal and state governments would need to improve funding of community organisations to permit the pay rises.

Family and children's worker Joy Stevens, who has been in the industry for 25 years, said historically her employment had been viewed as women's work.

"This is the work that needs to be valued that women do and we're not going to put up with it anymore," she said in Melbourne.

In Canberra, ACT Community Services Minister Joy Burch told the rally of about 100 workers the government would support the union's equal pay claim.

The crowd donned plastic "lip whistles" and blew a group kiss to federal Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard.

"No more lip service to equal pay, Julia," ASU organiser Natalie Lang said.

Victoria's Community Services Minister Lisa Neville said the government had invested significantly in improving its funding every three years.

In Sydney about 2000 workers marched, while rallies were also held in Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and other regional areas.