Search

Attention: News Editors, Business, Industrial and Social Affairs correspondents

Midlands TUC condemns women's pay inequalities in the east midlands

The Midlands TUC today condemned new figures showing that women workers in the east midlands still trail behind their male counterparts 35 years after the Equal Pay Act. Figures from the governments 'Women and Equalities Unit' show that gross median income for women was only 50% that of men in 2003/04 - £148 per week compared to £294 for their male counterparts.

TUC Midlands Regional Secretary Roger McKenzie said 'We have know for years that women’s pay badly lags behind that of men and these recent figures show this all too well. Since 1996/97 this situation has only improved by 4%, on average that’s just half a percentage point per year. At this rate it will be another 100 years before median incomes for men and women are the same'.

Lower income for women also leads to lower disposable income and again women are seriously behind in the east midlands with only 55% of the disposable income of men.

Mr McKenzie went on to say, 'Companies need to look very seriously at the work undertaken by their male and female workers and conduct meaningful pay audits which they can use to end pay discrimination between men and women. Only if this is done, and companies act on the information they uncover, will we see the huge pay gap between men and women begin to close.'

Notes to Editors:

All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Roger McKenzie on 0121 2626383 or 07879 497 291; Alan Weaver on 0121 262 6383 or 07771 77 86 94

Other enquiries:

Press release (300 words) issued 24 May 2005