{"id":2514,"date":"2014-12-17T12:49:19","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T12:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=2514"},"modified":"2014-12-18T11:59:26","modified_gmt":"2014-12-18T11:59:26","slug":"equal-pay-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=2514","title":{"rendered":"Equal pay victory"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Almost 50 years ago, Ford Dagenham plant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers went on strike and paved the way for legislation that would ensure equal pay for women.
\nDespite the great strides they made, the gender pay gap still remains stubbornly high at 9.4 per cent. Women can expect to earn on average over \u00c2\u0141200,000 less than their male counterparts over their lifetimes.
\nThe fight for equal pay goes on, and yesterday (December 16) signalled a major step forward.
\nAs UNITElive reported<\/a>, Labour MP Sarah Champion brought forward a bill that would require companies of over 250 employees to publish information on averages wages to make transparent any existing gender pay gap.
\nAfter the bill was discussed yesterday, it was passed by an enormous margin\u00e2\u20ac\u201d258 to 8.
\nThrowing their support behind the bill, Unite joined some of the original Ford Dagenham women (pictured after the result of the vote)\u00c2\u00a0 and magazine Grazia in a rally outside Parliament.
\nCommenting on the victory, Grazia\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s editor-in-chief Jane Bruton said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re absolutely delighted with the outcome of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vote.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince Grazia launched its pay gap campaign in June, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard from countless women who are paid less than their male colleagues simply because of their gender. This is an issue we shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even be discussing in 2014,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the pay gap is narrowing very slightly, women are still earning only 81p for every \u00c2\u01411 a man earns,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Bruton went on to say. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is not a time to rest on our laurels. This change in the law that will make pay more transparent, directly benefiting women\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s salaries and meaning they are no longer penalised simply for their gender.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165
\nDora Challingsworth, leading shop steward at Ford Dagenham, emphasised the importance of active union membership and solidarity with other women.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou’ve got to keep fighting,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Challingsworth said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll these years later, women are still not treated right. And I think it’s a bit harder today – we were 400-500 machinists years ago. I’m 76 and I’ve still got a fight on my hands!\u00e2\u20ac\u0165
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI always say to young women – don’t be on your own,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt’s good to join a union, but make sure you get involved and go to the branch meetings. Listen and learn from the older women, and if you’ve got a problem, talk to them.
\nUnite assistant general secretary Diana Holland agreed, stressing the importance of trade unionism in the continued fight for equal pay.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll the major equal pay cases have been supported by trade unions,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Holland said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015b At a time when gains for working women are under daily threat, as assistant general secretary in Unite I want to say loud and clear that equal pay and closing the gender pay gap are priorities for the union, and vital to women’s lives, to workplace justice and to ending family and community poverty.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165
\nFor Champion\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bill, which would implement section 78 of the Equalities Act, to go into effect, it will need the additional backing of the government, meaning an incoming Labour government in May is particularly critical if the bill is to have any teeth.
\nStay tuned on UNITElive.org for the latest on the bill and the continued fight for equal pay.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost 50 years ago, Ford Dagenham plant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s workers went on strike and paved the way for legislation that would ensure equal pay for women. Despite the great strides they made, the gender pay gap still remains stubbornly high at 9.4 per cent. Women can expect to earn on average over \u00c2\u0141200,000 less than their male […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[116],"wps_subtitle":"Labour will impose pay transparency ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2530,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2514\/revisions\/2530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}