Aussies Receive Huge Pay Hike

In a move that's likely to lift the spirits of librarians worldwide, the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) has ruled that librarians will receive pay increases of up to 25 percent. The NSW Industrial Relations Commission says library employees, including library technicians and archivists, have been historically undervalued because they're mainly professions dominated by women. Over the last decade, there's been significant increases in the "work, skill, and responsibilities of such employees that have not been properly taken into account in fixing their rates of pay," the commission says.

What sparked the decision? It started in 2001, when a labor union, the Public Service Association, presented a case to prove that a female worker was worth the same as her male counterpart. As a result, a librarian at the top of the pay scale will receive a 25 percent increase to a $56,000 salary. The move marks one of the most significant pay-equity decisions in Australia in the last three decades, and many hope it will serve as an example for other female-dominated professions.