Employment Rights Bill is “vital” for women’s pay and equality

Commenting on the Fawcett Society’s Equal Pay Day today (Wednesday), the day of the year women effectively stop getting paid because of the gender pay gap, TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:

“Our economy isn’t working for women. At current rates of progress, it will still take 16 years to close the gender pay gap.  

“This is why Labour’s Employment Rights Bill is so vital for women’s pay and equality.

“The Bill will require large employers to set out clear action plans on how they will close their gender pay gaps, rather than just report what they are.

“And we know women still take on the lion share of caring responsibilities – a key driver of the gender pay gap – so fixing care is critical to raising their pay.

"The Employment Rights Bill will also introduce a fair pay agreement in social care, to stop the race to the bottom on pay and conditions. This will help recruit and retain staff.”  

The TUC says many of the other policies in the Employment Rights Bill – which begins its committee stage on Monday (25 November) – will help close the gender pay gap, including:

• Strengthening flexible working rights by introducing a day one right to work flexibly unless an employer can properly justify why this is not possible.
• Banning exploitative zero-hours contracts to help end the scourge of insecure work, which is particularly widespread in sectors like social care.  
• Giving all employees day one rights on the job by scrapping qualifying time for basic rights, such as unfair dismissal, sick pay, and parental leave.  
• Extending redundancy and unfair dismissal protections for pregnant women and new parents.