GMB members all over the country are seeing pay justice after years of taking on their discriminatory employers. Women in Birmingham have had life changing settlements, Sheffield City Council have started to rectify their discrimination, Leeds members have seen a partial settlement and Falkirk carers have won their fight for pay justice.
Every member impacted is a family that has more financial breathing room, more time to spend with each other rather than working extra shifts to make ends meet and a community that will benefit from money going to some of the lowest paid workers in our cities and towns.
It’s right to see all of that as a positive result. Surely most sensible people would. The right to equal pay for equal work is fundamental in our society.
We know now that not everyone thinks equality is a good thing. The Conservatives have publicly posted a view that they think equal value laws are ‘clearly wrong and unfair’. Reform publishing policy that would obliterate equal pay legislation taking us back at least 50 years.
Then we have the recent Next judgement which agreed that a material factor defence which pointed to market forces as a legitimate reason for payment the men (warehouse workers) more than the women (retail workers) despite their work being of equal value was fair.
A wise colleague pointed out that this judgement strikes through the heart of what the Equality Act (2010) and more broadly what any labour laws are designed to do. If the market could be trusted to be fair and non-discriminatory, then we wouldn’t need things like equal pay law. We know that the market cannot be trusted to be fair and non-discriminatory which is why laws and regulations exist. Accountability is paramount and if an employer can say that the market is discriminatory, so we just followed that discrimination then it starts to question what the purpose of equality legislation is for.
The one thing we know works and we’ve seen over and over again, is that when women stand up and fight for equal pay, we can win pay justice.
In Birmingham, members went on strike and made their voices heard by the council. In Leeds, our ballot for industrial action launches today. In Swansea, members are gearing up to make sure they get a good deal for the years of discrimination they’ve faced.
International Equal Pay day is a chance for us to celebrate the victories thousands of women have won with our union but it is also a reminder that these battles weren’t won easily. It is also a reminder that we can never afford to be complacent. The lessons from Birmingham, Leeds and Swansea and many other campaigns are clear – when workers organise, stand up and make their voices heard equal pay can be a reality. We continue to celebrate how far we’ve come but we must never underestimate those who oppose and fight against our rights.