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Notices and Press Releases

Fawcett : Gordon Brown under pressure to take tougher action on equal pay

On 9th June, as the Government continues to debate the future of the Equalities Bill, leading women’s rights organisation the Fawcett Society published an open letter, signed by a number of major Unions and anti-poverty charities, calling on the Government to take tougher action on equal pay.

Commenting on the letter, Katherine Rake, Director of the Fawcett Society, said:

‘This letter demonstrates the rising tide of concern amongst Unions and Equality Charities about the slow pace of progress towards equal pay for women.

‘At the next election, women will be looking to assess parties’ commitment to this touchstone issue and there are likely to be political consequences for a failure to act decisively. The Tories and Liberal Democrats have already announced proposals for badly needed reforms to our outdated legislation.

‘It is now time for the Government to set out its vision for delivering a fairer future to women in the UK.’

The laws on pay have been under review since February 2005. Despite this, today we are no wiser as to the measures this government will introduce to end the yawning pay gap between women and men, or how they will pay for the thousands of public sector discrimination cases currently in the tribunal system.

The pay gap means on average women earn £4000 less per year than men; the equivalent of men being paid all year and women working for free from October.

Tougher measures on equal pay are fair and just. But they deliver much more. A fairer workplace is good for the economy. The Government’s own figures suggest that unlocking women’s full economic potential could be worth a staggering 1.3% to 2% of GDP. Bold measures to narrow the pay gap would also send a clear message that discrimination has no part in 21st Century business. They would deliver improvements in women’s incomes and in turn help the Government meet its ambitious child poverty targets. Action on equal pay would also be popular with voters, particularly women. Recent polling indicated 71% of women want the Government to do more to narrow the pay gap.

The Government has a proud record of taking bold action to support ordinary working women and men even in the face of business pressure to back down. Labour is the party that introduced the Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act as well as the National Minimum Wage all of which have transformed the working lives of women in the UK. It is essential that the Government is bold, brave and decisive once more and commits now to funding and firm action that will finally make equal pay a reality.

Signatories:

Katherine Rake, Director, Fawcett Society

Tony Woodley, Joint General Secretary, Unite the Union

Diana Holland, Assistant General Secretary, Unite the Union

Dave Prentis, General Secretary, Unison

Paul Kenny, General Secretary, GMB

Sally Hunt, General Secretary, UCU

Kate Green, Chief Executive, Child Poverty Action Group

Jon Horsley and Kate Wareing, UK Poverty Directors, Oxfam

Fiona Weir, Chief Executive One Parent Families|Gingerbread

The Fawcett Society is campaigning for the following measures to be included in the Equalities Bill:

Protection: A ban on the dismissal of pregnant women.

Transparency: Compulsory gender pay audits for all organisations, so that the problems can be identified and tackled.

Representation: Each workplace to have a statutory representative to ensure equality standards are met.

Raising standards: The government to only buy services from organisations that promote equality.

Let women stand together: Allow representative actions supported by unions so the burden is not on individual women to speak out.

Effective equality: Improvements to the tribunal system and technical changes to improve legal redress for women who experience discrimination.