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Millions of women receive a fraction of the wages earned by men even though their skill and responsibility levels are comparable. Laurence Pollock looks at one equal pay training course that's helping to change all that

Training for equality

The women’s pay gap was rather overlooked by the media at the recent TUC congress in Blackpool.

Block votes on Iraq and growing anger over PFI stole the limelight. But a debate on women’s poverty and an address by Julie Mellors of the Equal Opportunities Commission offered one of the richest forums of the whole week.

It set the stage for the expansion of the TUC’s equal pay project which has already trained hundreds of reps to tackle pay bias in the workplace. Millions of women receive a fraction of the wages earned by men even though their skill and responsibility levels are comparable.

These differences have arisen because women’s work, historically, was not valued while men were seen as ‘the breadwinner’. Today, women in full-time work still average £123 per week less than male workers. More than half of all women have a disposable income of less than £100 per week.

Equal pay for work of equal value has been a campaigning issue for more than a decade now. But thanks to work by UNISON, the TUC and the Equal Opportunities Commission, a sea change is taking place and employers are under pressure to tackle discrimination.

Julie Mellor told Congress: "If we are serious about tackling poverty then we have to tackle low pay in the sectors where women work ­ and that makes low pay in the service sector a priority.

"Equal pay law, as it stands, doesn't work for many low paid women. If they only work with other women, then they do not have the opportunity to compare their pay with a man's pay ­ which is what the law requires. The EOC wants to examine how other countries have addressed this issue and explore with trade unions how we can revalue the work of low paid women in Britain.

"Our Valuing Women campaign for equal pay continues. The latest phase is aimed at people in low paid jobs, often in small workplaces where there is no union recognition. Women need to know they have rights under equal pay law, and employers need to understand their legal responsibilities towards their workers. But we also need to address the wider issue of how different kinds of work are valued. Until the cleaners, caterers and home care workers are getting a decent wage, we won't achieve the goal of equal pay."

UNISON’s Julie Robinson, who also spoke at the TUC, said the training was very important in countering pay inequalities.

“When someone has been trained they should be able to go back to their work place and carry out a pay audit. There is no difference between a woman cleaner picking up rubbish bags in an office and a male street cleanser doing it outside. But the man is more likely to get a bonus.”

Local government has recognised equal opportunities in principal, for some time. In central government, the Cabinet Office is requiring all departments and agencies to be ‘equality proofed’ by spring of next year.

The current TUC project, supported by the government’s Union Learning Fund, has just received backing for a further 12 months. Phase two will allow the TUC to revise and update the EOC equal pay kit (see box left/right), brief tutors and provide training on line for the first time. There will be new training materials, newsletters and evaluation to check the strengths and weaknesses of the system.

UNISON has produced a booklet on equal pay developments in the UK.

To read Acrobat PDF files you need Acrobat Reader software, which is available free of charge from the Adobe website in both PC and Mac format.

CASE STUDY

Jan Shortt works for Newcastle City Council and is a UNISON branch steward. She recommends attending the equal pay training.

“We had an excellent trainer and she provided good pointers about the kind of information we needed to be looking for. There were a wide range of union members on the course and this helped us see different approaches to equal opportunities.

“Nursery nurses are a good example of the need for equal pay and conditions. They are almost all women and they are on term time only contracts. This reduces their earnings but they still cannot claim job seekers allowance in the summer. Nursery nurses, however, have moved away from just providing social care to delivering part of the early years curriculum.

“But there are many men’s jobs in education services which are paid all year round and therefore rewarded better.

“The course will teach to look at the range of term time only contracts provided by an employer and ask how many are for women and how many for me. You develop skills in negotiating and planning the whole process from start to finish.”

Contact the article's author Laurence Pollock