EQUAL PAY
Gender Pay Gap – End the Secrecy
We all want to be treated fairly.
The EU has had equal pay law since 1975.
There is a 16% gender pay gap across the EU between men and women’s gross hourly pay. Ranging from 27% in Estonia to 8% in Romania, the gender pay gap is only very slowly decreasing across the EU. The overall EU gender earnings gap is a shocking 40%. If women were paid the same as men, the poverty rate among working women could be halved and 2.5 million children would come out of poverty.
One very effective thing the EU could do to achieve equal pay would be to create more openness about pay and pay inequalities.
GENDER PAY TRANSPARENCY WORKS
Pay transparency is a realistic solution to reduce the gender pay gap. Some member states have already taken steps in this direction. Now is the time to introduce an EU pay transparency law.
- In Portugal making employers give employees information on average salaries is believed to be why it has a relatively small gender pay gap.
- In France a law requiring employers and unions to discuss the gender pay gap once a year during pay negotiations resulted in the amount of collective agreements tackling the gender pay gap rising from 3% to 10% in the first 3 years.
- In Denmark the gender pay gap shrunk 7% in the 1000 firms covered by a law which obliged them to report on gender pay statistics
ETUC CALLS FOR A PAY TRANSPARENCY DIRECTIVE
The ETUC is calling for a new EU Directive on Gender Pay Transparency that will end pay secrecy by:
- banning pay secrecy clauses in contracts so that workers can discuss pay
- requiring information for job evaluation for the purpose of establishing equal pay for equal work
- making all employers produce pay information (audits) and annual action plans on pay equality
- supporting unions to negotiate with employers to tackle the pay gap
- requiring job advertisements to include the pay range
- preventing employers hiding behind privacy, data protection or administrative burden to avoid pay transparency
- ensuring transparency for the whole pay package including benefits, bonuses, pensions, allowances etc
- imposing sanctions on employers who do not take action
For more information: www.etuc.org
“ETUC Resolution on Gender Pay Transparency Directive”
Leave a Comment