Embassy and household staff, Women & Gender Equality
Unions react to European Commission action plan on gender pay gap
In a joint press release the ETUC and EPSU underlined the need for urgent action to tackle the gender pay gap. They were reacting to the publication of the European Commission's Action Plan which addresses eight core themes: improving the application of the equal pay principle; combating segregation in occupations and sectors; initiatives to deal with vertical segregation; reducing the care penalty; better valorizing women's skills, efforts and responsibilities; exposing inequalities and stereotypes; informing about the gender pay gap and enhancing partnerships.
EPSU Women’s Committee will mobilise for a ‘New Gender Contract’
The EPSU Women’s and Gender Equality Committee, meeting in Brussels, on 27 November 2017, adopted a common strategy for tackling the gender pay gap in response to a recent Action Plan on the Gender Pay Gap adopted by the European Commission
Union calls for more action and funding to tackle gender pay gap
The JHL public services union has called for more action to tackle the gender pay gap, with increased funding and a legislative initiative like the one agreed recently in Iceland. The union says that shops stewards should have broader rights to access payroll data that could help monitor trends in the pay gap. It also proposes measures in schools to address the continuing problem of specific occupations dominated by one gender, something that is getting worse in some occupations according to JHL. It also wants to see increased parental leave specifically for men.
Public sector pensions negotiations get underway
Negotiations have begun over changes to the public sector pensions scheme. The Fagforbundet trade union is particularly concerned about addressing gender equality issues and for pensions to take account of the arduousness of many jobs in health and social care which are dominated by women. The demands of many of these jobs often mean that workers cannot stay at work until normal pension age and so there have to be suitable arrangements for early retirement. The union also wants to see improvements in the rules covering the combination of work and retirement.
Report analyses equal pay audits
The Eurofound research agency has published a new report that analyses how gender pay audits have been implemented in four countries - Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Finland. It is based on company-level gender pay reports and reveals that there have been mixed results in terms of compliance, in the initial phase. It also highlights room for improvement in engaging employee representatives and in raising employees’ awareness.
International union campaign against gender-based violence
International union organisations are promoting a major campaign against gender-based violence, a key aim of which is to get the International Labour Organisation to adopt a new convention. Launched on 14 February, the 23 days of action are building critical support for the adoption of a convention, accompanied by a Recommendation, on “Violence and Harassment against Women and Men in the World of Work”, with a strong focus on the gender dimension of violence. The campaign is also mobilising and strengthening trade union action in eradicating gender-based violence from the world of work.
Union highlights gender pay gap
The Vision local government union is calling for action on structural pay inequalities and wants to see women have the right to full-time and permanent employment contracts as part of a campaign to reduce the gender pay gap. The union supports the 16.02 campaign which says that with a 12% pay gap women effectively work for free every day from 16.02 to 17.00. The pay gap has narrowed slightly in recent years but on current progress it will take until 2050 to achieve equal pay.
Massive support for International Women's Day strike
The CCOO and UGT trade union confederations report massive support for their two-shift strike action across the public and private sectors on 8 March in protest at the gender pay gap, precarious emploment and violence against women. The two two-hour stoppages took place from 11.30 to 13.30 and from 16.30 to 18.30. The unions say that over 100000 people joined rallies in front of town halls across the country and that the success of the action was the result of intensive preparation through thousands of trade union meetings, trade union statements and an well-organised information campaign in
Report reveals trends in gender pay gap
A new report commissioned by EPSU provides an update of trends in the gender pay gap in the public services between 2010 and 2016. While the overall gender pay gap was only 0.3 percentage points lower across the whole economy and 1.6 percentage points lower in the business sector at the end of the period, it fell by 1.9 percentage points in education, 2.2 percentage points in health and social work and 2.3 percentage points in public administration. The overall pay gap was 14.9% across the whole economy in 2016 compared to 10.7% in education, 17.9% in health and social work and 9.4% in public