Equal Pay

It is generally assumed that equal pay was delivered thirty years ago when Barbara Castle became Minister for Employment and the Government passed the Equal Pay Act However, this is still very far from the case:

 Full-time women employees earn 81 pence for every £1 earned by full-time male employees (New Earnings Survey 1999)
 Part-time women employees earn 60 pence for every £1 earned by full-time male employees (New Earnings Survey 1999)
 20% of women full-time employees earn less than £200 per week, compared with only 8% of male full-time employees (IDS Report 799, Dec 1999)
 Only 25% of part-time women employees are members of employers’ pension schemes, compared with nearly two out of three full-time male employees (General Household Survey 1996)
 Women from some ethnic minority groups, particularly Pakistani and Bangladeshi or Indian women, are especially badly paid in comparison with men and with other women (TUC)
 UK women who have children lose much more of their lifetime earnings than comparable women in six other major industrialised countries (TUC)
 Statutory Maternity Pay in the UK works out at less than 9 weeks at full pay, the lowest rates in the European Union (European Commission 1998)
 There is no right to payment for parental leave in the UK. Some payment for parental leave is available in ten out of the fifteen EU member states

TSSA Policy

The following policy was agreed by the 2000 TSSA Annual Conference:

"Conference continues to voice its concern that unfairness and discrimination, much of which may be unintentional, continue within the workplace. Conference is concerned that the gap between men’s pay and women’s pay remains a significant source of inequality. All available data on pay shows that women’s average earnings are less than men’s and that this pay gap continues to affect women throughout their working lives in all industries and in all occupations. Conference calls on the EC to address the pay gap as a high priority through:-

(a) raising awareness amongst employers, Association representatives and members of the gap and the benefits of removing it;

(b) drawing the attention of the Association’s negotiators towards seeking a comprehensive analysis of pay systems, grading structures and the operation of recruitment and selection procedures within workplaces from employers;

(c) considering the problems of inequality when making representations on behalf of the Association to external bodies such as the TUC, Labour Party and Government, and

(d) providing adequate support and training to Association representatives when addressing the problems of inequality."

The Pay Gap

The pay gap is a measurement of the difference between the total gross earnings of similarly skilled/educated men and women and takes account of both hourly rates and the number of hours worked.

The gender pay gap in average hourly earnings for full-time women employees compared with full-time male employees has noticeably narrowed since 1970 it has though remained static at around 80% for the latter part of the 1990’s.

Two of the main reasons given for the pay gap are job segregation, (women tend to be concentrated in jobs which are traditionally low paid) and women’s caring responsibilities (women take many more career breaks than men to have children or to look after relatives).

One would expect that if you looked at pay for the under 21’s before caring responsibilities become a reality that the pay gap would not be a factor, but this is not the case. Women under 21 earn an average of £189 per week or 90% of average earnings for men under 21 at £209 per week. It is ironic to note that the pay gap is narrowest in retail, care work and catering, traditionally low paying sectors of the economy associated with women workers which because of economic necessity are now attracting men.

Despite recent legislation to enhance the rights of part-time workers, very little has been done to address their pay levels which continue to lag far behind those of full-time workers. Last year’s New Earnings Survey showed part-time women workers earn an average of £6.20 an hour, i.e. 63% of the average hourly earnings of £9.80 for full-time men. Male part-time workers earn on average less than 70% of the hourly rate for male full-time workers so it is clear that there is a penalty attached to part-time working but the penalty still remains heavier for women than it is for men.

Occupations

We have already referred to job segregation as a main cause of the pay gap. In every occupation group reported in the New Earnings Survey women earned less on average than men, even where they made up more than half the workforce. Women make up almost three quarters of the clerical and secretarial workforce yet earn only 90% of mens earnings in that occupational group. Female waitresses earned 94% of male waiters earnings but compare that to female treasury and company financial managers who make up only 25% of that grouping and earn only 66% of their male counterparts.

According to the Labour Force Survey (Office of National Statistics, April 2000) almost all of those in the most highly paid manual occupations are men whilst the majority of those in the low-paid occupations, i.e. cleaners or sales assistants, are women (ranging from 60% to 90%). Even in occupations such as primary school teaching that are relatively well paid, and where women tend to predominate, the average earnings of women are still only 90% of those of men.

Family

Family formation impacts significantly on the promotion prospects and equal pay of women. Male line managers are generally reluctant to promote women of child bearing age, particularly in small companies. Women are sometimes viewed as less committed and reliable once they have a family, retaining, as they often do, primary responsibility for childcare.

Perceived ambition and networking are viewed as important at senior organisational levels and as it is often assumed that women are less ambitious and less able to participate in informal networking than men, this can adversely affect their pay and promotion prospects.

Differing Expectations

Women generally expect lower salaries than men when they enter employment, primarily because they are more likely to choose industries where remuneration is lower, i.e. education, health or other related service industries. Men are more likely to look towards areas such as research, IT or business. Research by the EOC has shown that 25% of male students expect to earn more than their male counterparts after both 5 and 10 years as opposed to 10% of female students. (EOC Attitude to Equal Pay).

Male ambition tends to be associated with higher pay whilst women tend to equate ambition with career progression and stimulating and enjoyable work. (EOC Attitude to Equal Pay).

Discrimination within payment systems

The Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association was instrumental in addressing the issue of equal pay during the period when women’s scales existed in many industries and certain types of job were reserved for men only. Although those "men only" jobs are no longer the sole domain of men, they remain traditionally male dominated and are often relatively well paid.

Clerical posts in accountancy, personnel or administration, which traditionally attract female workers, tend to be poorly paid given the degree of responsibility, skill and knowledge inherent in many of these jobs.

The differences in pay which exist within many industries can sometimes be justified, although the existence of separate pay structures within the same organisation often leads to disparities which employers may, or may not, be reluctant to address.

Personal salaries

In the modern workplace many workers often have little idea what their colleagues earn. EOC research, (EOC Attitude to Equal Pay), found that:

 25% of those surveyed had no idea what their colleagues earned;
 40% had a rough idea or knew what the pay scales were.

Some employers consider the discussing of salaries with fellow employees as a disciplinary offence thereby seeking to control labour costs through intimidation. It is easy to appreciate how the pay gap can flourish within such an environment.

Conclusion

Having established that the legislation on equal pay has so far failed to provide women with a fair day’s pay how can the problem be addressed?

The most obvious solution to equal pay is clearly workers, and women workers in particular, who must be willing to organise within the workplace and within the TSSA to challenge inequality wherever they see it.

The TSSA recognises that unfairness and discrimination are often unintentional, and sometimes can occur as a result of informal networking in the workplace. We are therefore asking TSSA representatives to press employers for information that will facilitate a comprehensive analysis of pay systems, grading structures and the operation of recruitment and selection procedures within the workplace. We believe that such information will assist in identifying any integral weaknesses that may subsequently be addressed through joint discussion.

The EOC Code of Practice on Equal Pay

The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) Code of Practice on Equal Pay contains both legal advice and good practice recommendations for employers, providing a framework for developing a fair and discrimination-free pay and grading system. It is particularly useful for negotiators to use the Code as a means of encouraging employers to review their pay systems and adopt an equal pay policy. It can also be admissible in equal pay claims where a tribunal can draw inferences from an employer’s failure to act on to its recommendations.

The Code advocates that equal pay in organisations can only be achieved through regular review of the payment system for sex bias. It also states that payment systems should be transparent. This means that they should be clear and easy to understand and that an employee can understand the components of their individual pay packets and how each component contributes to total earnings in a set pay period. How transparent are your employers pay systems and when were they last reviewed for any bias?

The European Community has also published its own Code of Practice on Equal Pay. This complements the EOC Code and has more recommendations directed at employers and trade unions.

You may be in a situation where you do not have the information which would enable any sex bias in pay systems to be identified because the employer is reluctant to provide it. If so, where the TSSA is recognised for collective bargaining purposes, representatives can use section 181 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 to obtain information from the employer to help with collective bargaining. This information can include data which is essential for any review of pay systems (eg. data on pay and benefits for all employees broken down by sex, grade and department). Speak to your TSSA Negotiations Officer about this.

Pay Audits

The EOC recommends that a pay systems review, a Pay Audit, should involve the following:

1. Undertake a thorough analysis of the pay system by producing a breakdown of all employees (including by sex, job title, grade and whether full-time or part-time) for each element of the pay system (including for example, basic pay, performance pay, occupational pension, company car and any premium payments).

2. Examine each element of the pay system against the data obtained in 1.

3. Identify any elements of the pay system which the review indicates may be a source of any discrimination.

4. Change any rules or practices, including those in collective agreements, which stages 1 to 3 have identified as being likely sources of discrimination. This should be done through joint discussion. If stages 1 to 3 reveal that practices in relation to recruitment, selection, networking or access to training have contributed to discrimination in pay then these matters should also be addressed.

5. Analyse the effects of any proposed changes in practice to the pay system before implementation, to identify and rectify any discrimination which could be caused.

6. Give equal pay to current employees. Where the review shows that some employees are not receiving equal pay for equal work and the reasons are not justifiable, then a plan must be developed for dealing with this.

7. Set up a system of regular monitoring to allow checks to be made to pay practices.

If you are concerned about pay and equality issues in your company please contact your TSSA Negotiations Officer to address the best course of action.