- Conference
- 2022 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 8 July 2022
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that pay gaps affect large swathes of our membership regardless of service group or self organised structures within UNISON.
Pay gaps measure the average hourly pay of a group of people with a ‘protected characteristic,’ such as women or Black workers, compared to the average hourly pay for men or white workers for example.
For example, according to government statistics:
• The disability pay gap was 13.8% in 2021, meaning disabled people get paid on average £1.93 per hour or £3,512 per year less than non-disabled people
• The ethnicity pay gap was 2.3% in 2019, but this masks significant disparities with the London ethnicity pay gap standing at 23.8%
• The gender pay gap was 15.4% in 2021, an increase on 2020
• There is very little official data about the LGBT+ pay gap but we know from a YouGov survey in 2019 that lesbian, gay, bi, and trans workers responding reported being paid an average £6,700 per year less than non-LGBT+ colleagues, a 16% pay gap. UNISON’s experience is that trans workers are likely to be particularly impacted.
Younger workers are also more likely to experience low pay.
The pay gaps are even higher for people who have more than one protected characteristic, such as Black and disabled women.
It is important to note that equal pay is different to pay gaps. It is illegal to pay a worker less for doing work of equal value. However pay gaps are more complicated and are more difficult to tackle.
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) research indicates women, people from racial minorities and disabled people endure pay gaps due to barriers to accessing work and career progression.
In fact pay gap reporting is a relatively basic indicator of inequalities in the workplace, in recruitment, promotion, training, and reward.
A big cause of the gender and disability pay gaps is that jobs offered on a part time basis are usually at the lower end of the pay scale and it is often women with caring responsibilities and disabled people who face barriers to working full time that have to do these jobs. There are also some jobs that are not valued by society and are often carried out by people who are more likely to face discrimination when they try to get a better job in another sector. The roles that aren’t valued include jobs in care, catering, cleaning, admin and retail. Women, and disproportionately Black and migrant women, often do these jobs. These are some of the lowest paid sectors with the worst terms and conditions, driving the ethnicity and gender pay gaps.
Disabled people are entitled to reasonable adjustments by law under the Equality Act 2010 so that they don’t face barriers at work. However, many disabled workers are refused adjustments or have to wait months or even years to get them. This makes it difficult for them to do their job and they often end up denied training, promotion and better pay as a result.
Discrimination is also key to pay gaps. Black workers are more likely to face unfair disciplinary action at work and lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans workers can experience bullying and harassment. These workers can be denied opportunities to advance in their role just because they are Black or LGBT+.
Presently there are no requirements in the UK for employers to comment on, or disclose the ethnicity or disability pay data they hold.
Conference notes that UNISON’s national Black members committee has publicly called for mandatory ethnicity monitoring. In parallel to this, UNISON has long supported mandatory disability pay gap monitoring and the Disability Employment Charter, of which UNSION is a founder member, includes this as a key ask.
Conference welcomes UNISON’s new Quick Guide ‘Bargaining on Pay Inequality – Pay Gaps: What they are and what your branch can do about them’. This includes helpful ideas on how to take action locally.
Conference therefore calls on the National Disabled Members Committee to work closely with the National Black Members Committee to:
1. Work with UNISON’s learning and organising services to seek to develop a training package explaining what pay gaps are and how to take concrete steps in the branch to make a difference.
2. Raise the disability and ethnicity pay gaps with regions, branches and service groups so that the drivers of pay gaps can be included in local and national bargaining agendas with employers
3. Consider working with existing campaigns or developing a UNISON campaign to push for mandatory disability and ethnicity pay gap reporting
4. Publicise the new Quick Guide ‘Bargaining on Pay Inequality – Pay Gaps: What they are and what your branch can do about them’ to branches and regions.