Women across Scotland will today (Monday 10 November) receive their final payslip of the year.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is labelling 10 November ‘No Pay Day’ to highlight the fact that women earn 85p per hour for every £1 a man earns. This means that women work the equivalent of the last eight weeks of the year for free.
The STUC will distribute thousands of payslips to commuters in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness to highlight No Pay Day and the fact that women are still striving to achieve equal pay.
In advance of No Pay Day, Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary, said:
“The trade union movement has been at the forefront of the struggle for equal pay. It is a national disgrace that No Pay Day is still a reality for working women and their families.
Unequal pay is a direct cause of poverty for women and children and plagues women into retirement, with only a third of women qualifying for a full state pension. Women are also battling against the ‘motherhood penalty’ when they combine work with caring responsibilities.”
Elaine Dougall (Unite), STUC Women’s Committee, said:
“The STUC Women’s Committee is dismayed that pay inequalities have not been tackled head-on. We are calling for mandatory pay audits, so employers cannot dodge the responsibility of making sure their pay systems are not discriminating against women.
"The reality is also that women end up doing the majority of unpaid caring, so employers need to offer more flexible working if women are to have the opportunities they and their families need.”
Cheryl Gedling (PCS), Chair of STUC Women’s Committee, said,
"The STUC Women's Committee recognises that women still predominate in low-paid low-status jobs and that this occupational segregation is a significant cause of the gender pay gap. The work that women do needs to be properly valued if we are to win the equal pay we deserve'
ENDS
For further information contact:
Ann Henderson, STUC Assistant Secretary – 0141 337 8100