Cardiff
Bus company is to conduct a pay audit as part on its ongoing campaign to close
the pay gap between men and women.
The
firm will work with the Transport and General Workers’ Union as part of the
T&G’s ‘Pay Up!’ campaign in Cardiff.
Welcoming
the company’s co-operation, T&G deputy general secretary Margaret Prosser
said it was important for businesses and trade unions to work together in this
way.
"It
is more than 30 years since the Equal Pay Act, yet there is still a significant
pay gap between men and women to the extent that women will, on average, be
£250,000 worse off than men over the course of their working life," she
said.
"Put
another way, on the current rates of progress it will take a lifetime for the
pay gap to be closed.
"We
have always said that we will make significant progress in dealing with this
issue through negotiations and working with employers as much as we will
through lobbying government.
"Today’s
news that Cardiff Bus is to work with us should, therefore, set an example for
all other employers to follow."
T&G
regional secretary Jim Hancock added: "We applaud the positive approach
that Cardiff Bus has taken on behalf of its workforce and look forward to
working together.
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"The
pay gap in Wales shows that women earn 86 per cent of men’s earnings on
full-time earnings and 79.4 per cent for part-timers. Well, part-time doesn’t
mean part-waged. Those figures show the scale of the task we have, but we are
determined to close those gaps and to do so in less than the lifetime that
current trends suggest," he added.
