{"id":18009,"date":"2019-05-09T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18009"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:48","slug":"rbs-worker-public-unequal-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18009","title":{"rendered":"‘I wasn’t going to let it go’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Paying men more than women for undertaking the same work has been illegal for nearly half a century, under the Equal Pay Act 1970.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Act is a hard-won piece of legislation that became law thanks to the tireless campaigning of women trade unionists, like the sewing machinists at the Ford plant in Dagenham, who never gave up.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But fifty years on, unequal pay is still a reality for far too many women, albeit one that modern-day employers have tried their best to keep hidden.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like the women fighting for equal pay decades ago who wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take no for an answer, women today must continue to fight for their right to be paid the same as their male colleagues.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite member and former RBS worker Lucy Williams is one such woman who battled the odds in her fight for equal pay \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and won.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘You realise something is wrong’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Supported by Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legal team, Lucy took on one of the biggest banks in the UK after it was discovered she was being paid a shocking \u00c2\u014131,610 less each year than her male counterpart for doing the exact same job with equivalent experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the full extent of the pay disparity at first,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she told UniteLive, recounting how she first came to know that something was not quite right with her pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt just started with conversations with colleagues. You realise something is wrong when you learn that your male colleague is the sole breadwinner in his family, supporting his stay-at-home wife and three children. On my salary at the time, I would never have been able to do that. I noticed too that he had been given a greater holiday allowance. It became increasingly apparent that we were on vastly different pay and benefits packages.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lucy, who worked as a support analyst in NatWest Markets technology division, raised the issue with management repeatedly. But every time her concerns were dismissed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bManagement tried to twist it into an issue that it was not \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they would fob me off with the possibility of merit increases \u00e2\u20ac\u0098next year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. But that was never the point. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about merit increases. It was about being paid the same as my colleague who was doing the exact same work as I was. It is incredibly demoralising to come into work day-in and day-out knowing you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re being paid so much less and the bank\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to address it.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The distress of being paid substantially less than her colleague was compounded by a vicious male-centric workplace culture she believes dominates RBS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMy experience of working in NatWest Markets is that if you want to succeed as a woman, you have to either give up or cover up the traditional responsibilities of a woman. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not taken seriously if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not ruthless or if you have childcare responsibilities and need to maintain a good work life balance.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite RBS on the surface having good flexible working policies, I was ostracized and discriminated against when I attempted to make my flexible working request in line with their policies. Women aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t supported \u00e2\u20ac\u201c even by other women who collude in this unhealthy culture of discrimination.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blowing the whistle<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As Lucy continued working for RBS over the years between 2010 and 2017, the gaping pay disparity between her and her male colleague continued to widen \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he received a \u00c2\u01413,000 pay rise in 2016 and a further pay rise of \u00c2\u01412,000 and bonus of \u00c2\u01412,000 in 2017. For both 2016 and 2017 Lucy received a pay rise of just \u00c2\u0141300, which was the minimum negotiated by Unite for those years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After raising an official grievance in June two years ago, she was made redundant five months later.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhen you work for an organisation like RBS which has been cutting staff numbers for years, you observe the unhealthy alliances and behaviours which lead to discrimination when you blow the whistle on something like pay,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t an issue I was going to let go.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Eventually, with support from Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s legal team, RBS agreed to settle Lucy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s equal pay claim with a \u00c2\u0141150,000 pay-out \u00e2\u20ac\u201c on the condition that she would agree to a gagging clause. This would effectively silence her from speaking out about one of the most shocking cases of unequal pay made public in recent years. Such gagging clauses are common in industries like finance and have worked to obscure the true extent of unequal pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Lucy stood her ground.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere was no way I was going to agree to a gagging clause,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sit well with my morals. There are far too many women who are forced to back down. I was told I was mad for refusing. But I would rather have gone to tribunal than be silenced.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Brave stand’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks to Lucy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perseverance, her employers were the ones who, in the end, backed down \u00e2\u20ac\u201c three days before the employment tribunal was due to sit in March this year, RBS dropped the confidentiality clause.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary for legal services Howard Beckett hailed Lucy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s brave stand and the wide-ranging implications it could have for other women fighting unequal pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe determination of Miss Williams to pursue this case with the support of Unite and her refusal to be gagged by RBS has lifted the lid on pay disparity at the bank and could lead to further equal pay claims,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe now know that the number of women who received a bonus in 2015 was 20 per cent compared to 39 per cent of men and that a year later the gap widened further still. Just 13 per cent of women got a bonus in 2016 compared to 46 per cent of men,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Beckett noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will be reviewing the implications of this case and won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hesitate to support further equal pay claims.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Lucy, the stand she took in her fight against RBS was an exhausting one \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt dominated 18 months of my life,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one that she encourages other women to take if we are to end unequal pay once and for all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI advise anyone to join a union. Unite has a proud tradition of standing up for those who are treated unfairly and fighting for what is right \u00e2\u20ac\u201c things would not have ended as they did for me had I not been supported by Unite. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strength in numbers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI also urge women to have courage, and ask if they are being paid correctly and in line with the Equal Pay Act. If not, raise a grievance. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t let them fob you off. Take it as far as you can.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about how Unite can support you in an equal pay claim or another workplace legal issue here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paying men more than women for undertaking the same work has been illegal for nearly half a century, under the Equal Pay Act 1970.   The Act is a hard-won piece of legislation that became law thanks to the tireless campaigning of women trade unionists, like the sewing machinists at the Ford plant in Dagenham, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[116,379,292,123],"wps_subtitle":"Former RBS worker goes public in shocking story of unequal pay","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18009"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18009"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25296,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18009\/revisions\/25296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}