1989 ‘crunch year9 for pay equity

Press, 29 December 1988, Page 8

1989 ‘crunch year 9 for pay equity

PA Wellington Boosting the pay for women, in relation to men, 7 per cent over five years would increase the national wage bill about 2.5 per cent, the Council of Trade Unions says. Releasing the council’s report on the “Economic Dimensions of Equal Pay Today,” the council’s vicepresident, Ms Angela Foulkes, said 1989 would be the crunch year for Government moves on employment equity. It would have to make a final decision on how to translate the recommendations of the Wilson working party report on employment equity into legislation. That report, “Towards Employment Equity,” re-

commended legislation to ensure equal employment opportunities for women and other disadvantaged groups and equal pay for work of equal value. The C.T.U, report says there are different ways of measuring the pay gap between men and women with each reflecting a different cause of pay inequality. These include: © Women, as a group, earn about 51 per cent of the total wages paid to men. © Women earn 63 per cent of male earnings, per worker. © Women in full-time jobs earn about 73 per cent of male earnings,

and tend to be in jobs with less access to paid overtime or to higher-paid shift work. Employer arguments that pay equity would cost women jobs by pricing them out of the market can be countered by looking back to the 1972 Equal Pay Act, the report says. Between April, 1973, and April, 1978, the time when equal pay was phased in, the number of males in full-time jobs increased 19,397 and the number of females 31,982. The Wilson report assumes pay equity laws will narrow the pay gap by 3 to 6 per cent with each pay equity increase being phased in over a three-year period.