Equal pay campaign
Equal Pay is a priority campaign for Unite as the persistent gap
in pay between men and women full time workers is 17% and is not
closing at a significant rate. The gender pay gap for
part-time workers is even starker at 36% and is in urgent need of
addressing as there has been little progress on closing this gap
for many years. But there isn’t just a pay gap for women –
BME and disabled workers are disadvantaged in the labour market
with high unemployment and lower pay. This is particularly
prevalent in some BME groups such as Pakistani and
Bangladeshi. Older and younger workers may also face
disadvantage in pay.
The Unite Equal Pay Campaign is focused on employers carrying
out equal pay audits, job evaluation where necessary and delivering
fair pay and transparent pay systems in organisations.
Employers should be encouraged to cover age, disability, race and
gender when carrying out an equal pay audit. Equal pay audits
identify pay discrimination and “the glass ceiling” and allow
employers and unions to develop action plans to close the pay gaps
and achieve fairness in pay for all workers.
The Women and Work Commission Report provided 40 recommendations
to close the gender pay gap. Unite was disappointed that the report
did not recommend the reform of the Equal Pay Act to require all
employers to carry out mandatory equal pay audits and statutory
rights for Equality Reps in the workplace. Our campaign around the
Single Equality Act is calling for strengthening for equal pay
legislation in this area. The Unite Equal Pay campaign aims to take
the 40 recommendations of the Women and Work Commission
Report to employers and negotiate equal pay agreements that
will be effective in closing the pay gap.
An
Equal Pay Negotiators’ Guide is available to support workplace reps
on negotiating on equal pay is available here
The Women and Work Commission Report is available at
http://www.equalities.gov.uk/pdf/Shaping%20a%20Fairer%20Future%20report.pdf
Email to a friend
Want to share this story? These sites allow you to tag and share links across the internet enabling you to share these links with friends and people with similar interests. You can also access your links from any computer you happen to be using.
