The launch coincides with the Fawcett Society’s No Pay Day, which marks the point in the year at which the average UK woman stops getting paid because of the 17 per cent pay gap between men and women.

To mark the start of the campaign, the union is looking back its first equal pay deal 90 years ago, as well as recent victories worth thousands of pounds.

Michelle Stanistreet takes a look back to the pioneers of equal pay campaigning ; to the days when women journalists raising their concerns may have been told “don’t worry, don’t nag”, but still managed to secure a major victory.

We also have an interview with Fleur Cushman, one of many people to have won significant equal pay victories thanks to union support over the last few years.

Tim Gopsill interviews NUJ member Fleur Cushman, for whom the union won £26,000 in back pay and an extra £8,000 per year. Fleur’s 2007 case against the then Trinity Mirror-owned Racing Post just goes to show that women can take action to close the gap. Read other examples from UK and Ireland here.

The campaign aims to get more people to take up the fight against gender pay inequality, just like our members at the Independent who have backed the campaign. It is also aiming to put pressure on the UK government to improve the provisions of the Equal Pay Act.

For more on the campaign, including advice on tackling unfair pay and our top-ten equal pay facts go to our Equal Pay pages.

 

30 October 2008

---