General Council Meetings - The STUC

Bargaining for Equal Pay
The Bargaining for Equal Pay toolkit was launched at
Congress 2006, and the project has worked to distribute
and disseminate the guide through STUC-affiliated unions.
The toolkit provides information and guidance on
including equal pay within the bargaining agenda, a
checklist for negotiators, and sample letters that can be
used to ask small employers to carry out pay reviews.
Copies of the toolkit are available at the Close the Gap
stand at Congress, and from the project directly.
Equal pay has been a critical issue for many STUCaffiliated
unions in the past year, and the Bargaining for
Equal Pay guide complements unions’ individual
strategies for addressing unfair and unequal pay.
Equal pay, equal value, and job evaluation
Close the Gap has commissioned TUC Education to
deliver two two-day schools for TU reps and officials
around equal pay, equal value, and job evaluation.
These two schools were delivered in March 2008 and
were attended by reps and officials from a number of
STUC-affiliated trade unions.
Close the Gap will be holding its annual legal update in
coming months, at which a range of speakers from trade
union lawyers and equalities bodies will seek to address
some of the current legal and policy issues for reps and
officials around equal pay.
Occupational Segregation
Occupational segregation, where men and women are
grouped into different types of work, or where women
are prevented from reaching the most senior levels by a
“glass ceiling”, is one of the key causes of the pay gap.
The project has carried out a number of pieces of
partnership work with employers and STUC-affiliated
trade unions to identify barriers to women’s progression
and to address these barriers.
Close the Gap was also represented on the advisory group
of the current EOC General Formal Investigation into
Classroom Assistants and the Scottish Government crossdirectorate
working group on occupational segregation.
Close the Gap has also worked with employers in large
finance sector organisations, and sits on the Financial
Services Strategy implementation group on equal pay. The
project held a business breakfast event in March 2008,
which was addressed by John Swinney MSP, Cabinet
Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, and
disseminated some of the good practice of private sector
companies that have taken action to address gender gaps
within their organisations.
Raising Awareness to Tackle the Gender Pay Gap
Close the Gap has had a presence at STUC Congress and
all of the STUC equalities conferences, and has provided
materials to a range of affiliates’ conferences and events.
GENERAL COUNCIL REPORT 2008
The project has also taken forward a range of awarenessraising
work with employers and employer
representatives from public and private sector
organisations.
Small business guide
Close the Gap’s work with small businesses identified a
need for an accessible source of information and
guidance on making equal value comparisons.
Consequently, the project commissioned Kay Gilbert, an
equal value expert based at Strathclyde University, to
produce an equal value toolkit aimed at small and
medium enterprises.
The pilot of ‘Different But Equal’ revealed a need for
good quality HR resources for small and medium
enterprises, with an equalities perspective mainstreamed
within them. Close the Gap produced a guide for such
employers around pay structures, recruitment and
selection, retention and flexibility, and parental and
maternity provisions. This was accompanied by training
for SMEs in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Equality at work
Working in partnership with the One Workplace Equal
Rights project, Close the Gap developed a wallchart and
accessible introductory guide to equality law across all six
equalities strands and including trans.
These have been disseminated to affiliates over the past
year and are available from the joint Close the Gap / One
Workplace Equal Rights stall at Congress.
Low Pay and the Minimum Wage
The General Council continued to argue for an increase
in the minimum wage and the ending of discriminatory
wage rates. The General Council responded to the annual
consultation on the Minimum Wage.
A significant number of media instances were achieved in
publicising the STUC position on the minimum wage.
The General Council has worked closely with the Scottish
Low Pay Unit, the Scottish Poverty Alliance and the Child
Poverty Action Group to highlight the issue of low pay and
its link to poverty. The case for fair pay has also been
raised on numerous occasions through the General
Council’s work on migrant workers and welfare reform.
The issue of low pay in the tourism sector was the central
argument in the STUC’s evidence to the Economy, Energy
and Tourism Committee Inquiry into Scottish Tourism.
STUC made a clear case that a number of failures within
the sector can be attributed to low pay and poor terms
and conditions. The final report of the Committee is
awaited.
The General Council has also sought to raise the links
between poverty and low pay through support for a Living
Wage Campaign, through highlighting the two tier
workforce in the voluntary sector and through
highlighting the issue as it affects migrant workers.
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