Equal Pay Day: 54 years since the Equal Pay Act the fight continues
20th November is Equal Pay Day in 2024.
Its two days earlier than in 2022 meaning the equal pay gap is getting worse
In summary due to unequal pay with men, women at work will in effect work for the rest of 2024 for nothing compared with how much their male colleagues are paid.
The TUC has called for action in four key areas to address the issue:
>Mandatory action plans to tackle the pay gap
➡️End to discriminatory recruitment practices
➡️Day one rights to flexible working
➡️Investment in childcare
It is 54 years since the Equal Pay Act was passed and 49 since it was implemented in 1975
Given that it has been illegal to pay unequally for equal or like work since the 1970s one might question how it is that there is still an equal pay issue at all. After all there are meant to be no, no go areas for law and order so one might expect transgressing employers to face the full force of the law.
A problem of course is that law doesn’t come cheap and people earning an average wage are certainly not in a position to engage a lawyer unless of course they are a member of a trade union.
Unionised workplaces generally have lower equal pay gaps because workers can address the issue collectively.
That said while the focus on the lack of equal pay and the recognition that it is an issue does represent progress the fact that unequal pay remains a significant issue underlines how difficult it is to make lasting progress and why persistence across generations is the key to doing so.
Finally the gender pension pay gap is now also an issue that needs to and is being campaigned on as well.
https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/News/equal-pay-day-2024-will-be-20th-november
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