Equal Pay - How Ironic May 16, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Single Status , trackback
Along with approximately 3500 other East Lothian employees I received a letter at the weekend detailing the anticipated new grade for my job, based on the predicted outcome of my job evaluation.
My salary is predicted to rise by 19p an hour in the first instance and then gradually increase over the next two years by another 65p.
Armed with this information I attended a single status briefing being carried out by East Lothian Council. These briefings are taking place across East Lothian and are intended to keep the workforce up to date on how single status is progressing.
The meeting in Musselburgh Sports centre was well attended with around 100 employees turning up to take part in the briefing.
Zoe Thomson,from personnel, talked us through the latest news with regard to single status and outlined some of the options the council is considering in its bid to implement changes to the pay and conditions of its employees.
The presentation explained that one of the prime motives of single status / job evaluation was to do away with inequalities in pay between the genders.
For example, blue collar jobs, which attracted bonus payments of up to 40% were traditionally carried out by males, similar jobs of equal value carried out by females were not entitled to any bonus payments. In effect males were earning more than their female counterparts.
Nearly forty years ago, in 1970, the Equal Pay Act was passed and made it unlawful for employers to discriminate between men and women in terms of their pay and conditions when they do the same or similar work; work rated as equivalent; or work of equal value.
Looking round the room I estimated that women made up over 95% per cent of the assembled staff and it became apparent during the question and answer session, and upon chatting to them later, that the majority
- worked in education.
- were being “red circled”, therefore expected to have their pay frozen for a period of up to three years.(This particularly applies to administrative and clerical staff in schools)
- were all on the lowest 4 grades in the councils new 13 point pay scale.
It was then I was struck by how ironic it all was.
It may very well be the case that the group of employees single status was introduced to protect- low paid, female workers- may be the very same ones that lose out if it is implemented in its current form.
Jings.
Technorati Tags: single status, equal pay, irony
Powered by FireStats
Comments»
no comments yet - be the first?