Drive for equal pay must continue

16.03.09

“Women should not be expected to pay the price for earnings injustice,” said UNISON today.

Calling for radical changes to the outdated 1975 Equal Act, UNISON director of organising and membership Bronwyn McKenna said: “Employers are profiting from pay inequality and using the recession as an excuse to perpetuate discrimination.

“No one would tolerate such sustained discrimination against black workers - it is intolerable that women are singled out for unequal pay in the work place. The Equality and Human Rights Commission must take a tighter grip on the issue and end the gender pay gap once and for all.”

Ms McKenna’s comments came as it emerged that the body responsible for safeguarding equality in the UK is to tell the government that the economic climate is too fragile to impose equal pay reviews on business.

UNISON has been campaigning for many years for equal pay and currently has 45,000 legal claims outstanding on behalf of its women members.

The union wants the law changed to include:

• mandatory equal pay audits - many women, particularly those in the private sector, may not be aware that they face discrimination because employers keep pay secret: unless employers are open about their pay systems, then the gender pay gap will never be narrowed;
• named comparators - bring UK law into line with European law: in the UK, women have to identify an actual comparator in the same employment, unlike in the EU, but gender segregation and outsourcing mean that it is difficult for many women to find a comparator in their workplace as domestic law dictates;
• representative actions - trade unions should be able to bring representative actions to challenge pay discrimination as a more efficient means of handling employment tribunal claims;
• statutory equality representatives - with paid time off to identify inequalities could, under strengthened laws, benefit all parties: government, employer and the workforce. Such representatives, properly trained, could lead to earlier resolution.