REMINDER//ETUC webinar: New Zealand did it – can Europe do it too? Equal pay for work of equal value

12 February 2021 09:00-10:30

Event details

Brussels, 9 February 2021 

R E M I N D E R 

  • To: Members of the ETUC Women’s Committee
  • To: Members of the EP FEMM Committee
  • To: Members of the EP EMPL Committee
  • To: Deputy Permanent Representatives to the European Union
  • To: Social Attaches
  • For Information: to ETUC Member Organisations

Dear Colleagues, dear MEPs, 
Dear Ambassadors and Social Attaches,

We would like to invite you to an ETUC webinar  “New Zealand did it – can Europe do it too? Equal pay for work of equal value” on Friday 12 February, 09h-10h30. Interpretation will be provided in English and French.

Enshrined in the European Treaties since 1957, the principle of equal pay for work of equal value lacks enforcement and insufficient attention is paid to it in ongoing debates on pay transparency policy and legislation. For the upcoming, long-awaited Gender Pay Transparency Directive, the ETUC affirms the importance of including provisions that enable workers and trade unions to access information on criteria for deciding pay levels to help them negotiate equal pay for work of equal value and to provide for a work of equal value comparator.

A comparison of wages in the manufacturing sector, recently conducted by ETUC and industriAll, has shown yet again that women doing jobs of equal value, based on the same levels of skills, education and physical effort to the jobs done by men, are still being paid less. With its model directive the ETUC has already demonstrated the feasibility and added-value of criteria-based evaluation of jobs.

This webinar will showcase the example of New Zealand’s Equal Pay Act, recently amended with an equal value comparator, that empowers unions to bargain. You can register through this link before 10 February.

Agenda

Introduction and Chair, Esther Lynch, ETUC Deputy General Secretary

Presentations by:

  • Kerry Davies, National Secretary, New Zealand Public Service Association (PSA)
  • Avalon Kent, Legal Officer, New Zealand Public Service Association (PSA)
  • Marina Monaco, ETUC Advisor on Gender Equality
  • Q&A with participants

Please don’t hesitate to contact Aline Brüser ([email protected]) for any clarification.

Kind regards,

Esther Lynch
Deputy General Secretary