I have always found it a little rich that the government, and the regulators, when they talk about equal pay seem to target the private sector as the worst offender. On Wednesday 14 September Theresa May, the Home Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities launched the new voluntary approach to improving transparency on pay and other gender equality issues. And who was the scheme aimed at? The private sector and the first to sign up Tesco, BT, National Grid, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and law firm Eversheds.
Yet somehow, this new scheme simply underscores the view that the private sector is the villain. Yet when you read the newspapers you find that the worst offenders, just by the sheer size of their workforce are in fact the local authorities.
The latest in a long line of pay discrimination, and one that is now being settled out of court after considerable expense, is Sheffield Council. The argument advanced by Sheffield Council was simple that men working as street cleaners and gardeners were paid between 33% and 38% more than those for women working in jobs that even they agreed were comparable because that difference was caused by historical productivity bonuses. It was not gender related discrimination – oh no – it was just about productivity – as related to male jobs.
That sounds so convincing.
So sanity prevails and the end of the road for a long running dispute and one that will have an impact on thousands of other local authority workers. But let’s be clear about the lesson. The cause may be rooted in history but the problem was the current Council’s attitude. Yes pay disparity exists but that is why you need to be crystal clear about the reason and why regular pay audits guard against pay discrimination. Local authorities have been carrying out pay audits since the late 1970s and the Equality Standard for Local Government has been around since 2001 all of which cover gender and pay and those didn’t seem to help. So remember it is not the fact that you carry out pay audit that is important, it is about what you do when you discover the discrepancy and for the workers affected that is important because not only were they entitled to equal pay, but that missed pay also affects their pensions. So perhaps it’s time for the government to get it’s own house in order and lead by example.
Oh and by the way…well done Tesco, BT, National Grid, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and law firm Eversheds and all the others for stepping up to the plate and for those private sector equality scheme providers who also cover the issue.
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