For Information : For information: ETUC Briefing Note on Gender Pay Transparency

Brussels, 23 April 2021

• To Social Attachés

Dear Social Attachés,

I am contacting you in relation to the proposed Directive to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms, published by the European Commission on 4 March 2021.

The ETUC assessment is that the Directive contains good principles and intentions that will make a real difference. We urge you to support the Directive to make swift progress.

The Directive will certainly help to reduce secrecy on pay and expose pay inequality. But the Directive does not do enough to be the game changer it needs to be. Instead, the Directive as currently proposed puts a number of obstacles in the way of women workers securing the pay equality they deserve and are entitled to.

I attach for your information a briefing note, You may also find additional information on the section #GenderPayGap: End the Secrecy on the ETUC website.

The ETUC would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss our concerns in detail.

Yours sincerely

Esther Lynch
Deputy General Secretary