The
Transport and General Workers’ Union has welcomed the Audit Commission’s report
into discrimination in local government, saying women are still not getting a
fair deal from councils.
T&G
national organiser Jack Dromey called the report a "damning
indictment" of local government moving too slowly on equalities as service
providers and employers.
Singling
out the exposé of the second-class treatment of women in the local government
workforce, Mr Dromey said: "The Audit Commission is spot-on. Broken
promises on equal pay lie at the heart of the looming first national strike in
local government for 23 years.
"Women
in local government account for 70 per cent of the workforce but earn just 66
per cent of male workers’ weekly earnings a yawning gender gap of 34 per cent.
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"Yet
only 1 in 7 councils have concluded a pay and grading review five years on from
the Single Status agreement of 1997. It’s no wonder that women workers have had
enough of waiting for justice on pay."
