UNISON forms partnership to secure equal pay

(27/07/10) UNISON is working with Scotland's colleges and the Close the Gap project to secure equal pay in the country's further education sector.

Forty years after the Equal Pay Act was passed, the gender gap remains a stubborn reality: in Scotland, women are paid an average 12.2% less for full-time workers and 32% for part-time workers than men.

Now UNISON has joined with colleges and Close the Gap to produce guidance to help colleges reduce those figures, in line with the Gender Equality Duty that came into force in 2007. This requires public-sector employers to make sure that they are actively delivering on equality, including pay equality, as both employers and service providers.

"UNISON has a long history of organising and fighting for women's pay equality, and we are pleased to have been involved in producing this important piece of guidance," says UNISON Scotland secretary Matt Smith.

"Colleges have a legal responsibility to make sure they are paying fairly, and this set of tools will help them to make sure that is happening across their institutions."

Emma Ritch, project manager for Close the Gap, a partnership project that works to address the gender pay gap said: "After 40 years, the fact that such a large and widespread gap still exists is not only an issue of equality and social justice, but is bad for business and bad for Scotland's economy."

UNISON in Scotland

UNISON in further education

UNISON working for equal pay

Close the Gap

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