A workplace issue
It is now over thirty years since the Equal Pay Act came into force, but there is still a massive inequality between men’s and women’s pay. There is a 14% gap between men’s and women’s full-time hourly rates, and a shocking 33% gap when you compare women’s part time hourly rate to men’s full-time hourly rate.
These headline figures represent a lifetime of pay inequality for women. This inequality is a contributing fact to women and children’s higher levels of poverty and women’s pensioner poverty.
It also impacts on household earnings and on men’s earnings when they work in sectors or occupations with high levels of female workers.
The trade union movement has been at the forefront of the campaign for equal pay, and it is vital that this commitment to the issue is reflected in workplace reps’ bargaining strategies. The new toolkit Gender Equality Duty: a toolkit for trade union reps was successfully launched in Glasgow at a seminar attended by over 50 reps from across Scotland. The toolkit is designed to give trade union reps an understanding of the Gender Equality Duty, what employers are obliged to do under the duty, and how reps can use the duty for the benefit of thier members. Follow the link below to download your copy.
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