Trade Union Guide 2009
With comprehensive contacts listings
Despite decades of anti-discrimination legislation, women are still second-class citizens in the world of work. They are paid less than men (page 10) and are more likely to be in precarious employment.
While women now outnumber men in UK trade unions, at 52.1 per cent, they are still under-represented in the higher echelons of union structures. Perhaps this is one reason why the GMB union accepted a back-pay deal for its women members that indirectly discriminated against them. In July in Allen vGMB, the Court of Appeal upheld an employment tribunal’s finding that the GMB had “rushed headlong” into an “ill-considered” pay deal on back pay that short-changed women.
How can women win equality? According to International Trade Union Confederation president Sharan Burrow, paid maternity leave and adequate carers’ leave for women are must-haves, plus secure part-time work, flexible rosters and quality child care.
“Pay equity and equal opportunity can only be delivered through a combination of legislative and cultural change, wages settlements through collective bargaining and pay equity audits,” she suggests.
