Transparent pay systems

A transparent pay system makes it easier to compare pay between men and women. It is often where there is a range of additional payments, allowances and bonuses that discrimination takes place.

Armenia

| Trade union: HWUA | Sector: Health and social services |

The pay system in Armenia is tied to productivity (funding is allocated according to the number of patients cured, and a bonus scheme has been introduced within the obstetrics service), which undoubtedly facilitates covert discrimination. Since managerial posts, especially in hospitals, are usually occupied by men, discriminatory approaches to the allocation of patients to doctors, which are extremely difficult to tackle, have been witnessed.

Austria

| Trade union: VIDA | Sector: Private health |

The various special payments (identical for men and women) are regulated very precisely in the collective agreement. Bonuses do not arise at the "ordinary" employment level.

Czech Republic

| Trade union: TUHSSC | Sector: HSS |

The Union has not engaged in social dialogue on this issue. However, nearly half of healthcare workers and most workers in social services are subject to a public pay structure where remuneration is clearly determined by law and exceptions are inadmissible. Fixed salary scales which depend on the type and demands of the work as well as the worker’s level of experience are established by government regulation. Gender is not taken into account, i.e. this system is completely transparent and is not a contributory factor to discrimination against women. The other half of healthcare workers are subject to a commercial pay structure, in which only the minimum wage is regulated by law. In those cases where trade unions play an active role, provisions on pay are included in collective agreements which respect the rule of equal remuneration for men and women. Bonuses and other performance-related pay are not regulated by law, and it is not common for collective agreements to establish precise rules on the application of such discretionary pay components. In this light, it is impossible to say whether gender differences exist in this area. Where we have encountered discrimination in our work, it has mainly been due to union membership rather than gender.

Denmark

| Trade union: HK Stat | Sector: National administration |

Our payroll system is primarily locally agreed so we do not know all the wage agreements. But there is no specific mention about anything which manifests itself in the wage statistics. However, our investigation does show that it is far from all workplaces where members feel that there are transparent agreements between the union representative and management concerning the pay system, etc. Therefore HK/Stat has also requested far greater information in the local agreements and processes around the local bargaining for the next negotiations.

| Trade union: FOA | Sector: Municipal |

“The investigation shows that in the majority of groups selected men have a higher local wage share when measured in relation to total wage than women have, and that this trend is a little clearer for function supplements than it is for qualification supplements.(...)" (Source: Wages Commission 2010, p.364)

Finland

| Trade union: FIPSU | Sector: Public sector |

Pay systems based on the complexity of the job and personal performance have been put in place in the government and the municipal sector as well as in many private agreement sectors, and in connection with this change, the statistics indicate that women’s pay has increased in comparison with men’s pay.

Pay systems have been built cooperatively and with a shared understanding between the organisations. The goal has been to build them as gender-neutral as possible in terms of definitions and content, and also to make them transparent, so that the parties can monitor the application of the agreements. Agreement-specific monitoring is arranged. In addition, the Act on Equality between Women and Men (Equality Act) and related plans require the employer to prepare annual pay charts. At this point, however, pay charts are drawn up rather infrequently and without consistency.

In 2009, the labour market confederations renewed the recommendation to assess the gender impact. For example, in the Collective Agreement for Government Employees for 2010 to 2012, the carrying out of assessments on the gender impact of agreements was agreed on. The goal is to carry out the assessments in the autumn of 2010. The negotiating parties are currently drawing up guidelines on the matter for government agencies. In the assessments, special attention will be paid to the assessment of the gender impact of the pay system agreements and work time agreements.

In the municipal sector, an assessment of the gender impact of the general collective agreement for municipal employees was carried out in 2006. Gender impact assessments have also been included in several private sector collective agreements (e.g. the 2010–2011 collective agreement for health services employees). As regards the collective agreement of the Employers’ Association for Service Enterprises, an assessment was carried out in connection with agreement negotiations in 2010.

France

| Trade union: FNEM-FO | Sector: Energy |

There is transparency in terms of the basic salary but this is not so much the case when it comes to individual performance-related payments.

Netherlands

| Trade union: Abvakabo | Sector: Public sector |

The healthcare sector has a transparent system for job evaluation, the so called FWG system. Each job has its own description and on that basis is coupled with a certain salary. The FWG-system, when used properly, should prevent random differences between men and women. However, occasionally we get signs that in certain occupations - where men are over-represented – the FWG-system is used in a creative way. There are, for example, grants awarded to increase salaries.

Romania

| Trade union: Sanitas | Sector: Health |

We have a transparent system, so it is known that there is no discrimination against women.

Sweden

| Trade union: Kommunal | Sector: Municipal blue collar |

We have a good level of transparency in the areas where we have signed an agreement for common pay statistics.

UK

| Trade union: FBU | Sector: Fire Service |

There is little transparency in pay systems at the higher levels of the organisation, yet percentage pay rises maintain the pay gap between those in lower and higher paid roles. Thus keeping the female dominated roles in the lower paid bracket.
Although basic pay scales are applied equally to men and women firefighters and are a matter for national negotiation, additional pay and allowances (including overtime and Additional Responsibility Allowances) are often subject to additional training and availability to work additional or outside of the normally provided child care hours. This removes the ability for many women to access pay increments or enhancements. This is particularly applicable to single mothers.

| Trade union: RCN | Sector: Health |

Equal pay for work of equal value was a central part of the Agenda for Change pay system implemented across the National Health Service from October 2004.

| Trade union: UNISON | Sector: Public Sector |

(2011 update) The vast majority of public sector roles are subject to job evaluation through formal, nationally negotiated and equality proofed schemes. However, there is historic inequality which has led to legal challenges against employers across the UK, with in excess of 50,000 equal pay employment tribunal cases now registered. Many of these challenges are based on elements of the pay structure such as bonus or environmental payments which artificially boost the pay of men compared to women with similar skill levels. UNISON lobbied the government, unsuccessfully, for improvements to the 2010 Equality Act which, amongst other things, would have led to improved transparency in the private sector. This is particularly important to our union given the number of public sector employees being transferred into the private sector where pay levels are lower and terms and conditions significantly poorer.

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