Union Strategies in Pursuit of Pay Equity: the Role of UNISON

Abstract

Industrial tribunals in the UK have heard more equal value cases than all the other European Union (EU) member states put together. This is due in no small part to the work of trade unions, many of whom began a systematic review during the 1980s of the ways in which European and UK equal pay legislation could be used in support of their women members. There was a growing recognition that the UK has one of the largest pay gaps between average male and female earnings in the EU. After more than 20 years of equal pay legislation, women working full-time still earn only 80 per cent of the average hourly earnings of men working full-time. When average weekly earnings are considered, the gender pay gap widens to 72 per cent, due to differences in working hours. These averages also hide wider disparities. Between 1975 and 1996, there was virtually no narrowing of the hourly pay gap between part-time women workers and full-time men workers, with part-time workers’ pay remaining at just 58 per cent of men’s full-time hourly earnings. Thus prima facie evidence for gender discrimination in payment systems was high. The Conservative government in power from 1979 to 1997 pursued a policy of deregulation, with the explicit aim of reducing the power of trade unions to negotiate on behalf of employees. European legislation remained one of the few potentially powerful options to challenge labour market inequality and improve pay and conditions, particularly for the predominantly female lower-paid workforce.