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NUJ campaigns to close widening gender pay gap
Ninety years after journalists on national newspapers in England secured one of the first equal pay agreements, the gap between men’s and women’s wages is growing.
UK government statistics released on Friday (14/11/08) showed that men with full time jobs earn on average 17.1 per cent more than women while male part-time workers trouser 36.6 per cent more than their female counterparts.
The NUJ's Equality Officer, Lena Calvert, said: “Last month we stepped up our equal pay campaign to mark the 90th anniversary of that historic agreement.
"I’m sure the union pioneers who negotiated parity in October 1918 would be shocked that we still have to fight for fair pay for women.
“Men suffer too - because paying women less enables employers to keep down the overall market rate.”
NUJ chapels are being urged to organise surveys of their own to compare wages and to pressurise managers to carry out equal pay audits.
The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings is available at www.statistics.gov.uk
17 November 2008
