Are you in a union?

If so, what union? and what made you Join?

Is it value for money?

Do you discuss wages between colleagues?

If so did you discover the different in pay gaps for doing the same work? How did it make you feel? How did they react?

If you don't discuss it, is it because you might feel embarrassed if you earned more or angry if it was less or do you feel it a taboo thing?

The final question, is it right for a man to earn more than a woman for doing the same job?

Why do you think there is this gap?

What can be done to close this gap?

Is this a research questionnaire?

Yes I'm in the PCS Union which stands for 'Public and Commercial Services' union.

Yes it's worth the money and they gove excellent advice. They back to you to the hilt if need be.

All civil servants within Jobcentre Plus work to the same pay bands as everyone else. And your pay rise is in accordance to your current wage and length of time served within the company.

Women and Men received the pay rises and bands in accordance with the above, there is NO difference according Gender.

I'm a strong supporter of trades unions. Without them the worker has no voice in how a company is run. I'm currently in AMICUS but since we were out-sourced the union is not recognised except for disciplinary cases.

Before out-sourcing we used to have negotiated pay rises which were, at a minimum, designed to keep pace with inflation. Without a union it is every person for themselves with no guarantee of any rise at all.

Since moving from recognised pay scales we no longer know what each other is earning even though we are doing the same job and we are discouraged from discussing individual earnings.

I'm not in a union and haven't felt the need to join one.

Perhaps if I worked for a big company then I would join one.

I think it's disgusting that many women are still earning less than their male counterparts.

You can bet your life if black people were paid less than whites or gay people paid less than straight people there would be hell to pay. But because it's only women it's ok?

I understand that in the past men were the bread winners so obviously they needed more money to look after their families but times have changed. Both men and women are the bread winners and both should be paid equally.

My boyfriend works for a company and he works alongside two women both of whom are more qualified than him yet he is paid nearly 4k a year more. He realises this isn't fair but obviously he isn't going to say anything and the women don't know so nothing will be done about it. It stinks!

Originally posted by steelblade
I'm not in a union and haven't felt the need to join one.

Perhaps if I worked for a big company then I would join one.

I think it's disgusting that many women are still earning less than their male counterparts.

You can bet your life if black people were paid less than whites
They are.

Do you have any evidence to back that up? I have never been aware of blacks earning less than whites for doing the same job.

I have been in NALGO, MSF, GMB and now TGWU.
I have changed unions as I have changed jobs.
I think they are vitally important as a protection for staff against the worst excesses of bosses. I have found them very useful and supportive and have been on occasion a shop steward myself.

I have only worked in one place where men were routinely paid more than women, and that was the only place where unions were not recognised and most people apart from me werent in one.

There is no valid reason why any two people doing the same job to the same level of success should be paid differently.

I must say I thought it was a criminal offence and that it had been illegal for years, and that sadly lots of people break the law and get away with it because people who know it goes on do not blow the whistle.

Is this a research questionnaire?

No, but I'm sure some student will stumble accross this interesting debate for their HND.

Yes, there are lots of questions and I felt they were all related.

Like Lousie says, she experienced that if you're in a union, the pay gap wouldn't be as wide as if you weren't.

Part of this pay gap is probably down to not discussing how much you earned and I wondered if anyone openly discussed this, say during a lunch break or is this a taboo subject and if so, why?

What initiated me to do this thread was some male openly expressed why it was unfair that women drivers pay less for car insurance in another thread I started. I felt it was more unfair that they got paid less for doing the same Job and I wanted to see what the reactions were.

On a personal level, I never discussed my wages and as a result, my income in the past was probably low. I was shocked to find that someone who recently joined that particular company was paid 10K more than me with less specialized skills than I had. Some unfair contract was being forced upon me which led me to leave the company. Funny thing was they offered 35% pay rise if I didn't leave. I had the gut to say I wasn't interested and left.

If you want to earn more, move Jobs. Why? Your new employer will offer you more as an intentive to join them. The amount is far greater than your yearly rate of inflation pay increase. Don't do it too much, or your CV won't look good in terms of dedicated to the company.

Originally posted by John
If you want to earn more, move Jobs. Why? Your new employer will offer you more as an intentive to join them. The amount is far greater than your yearly rate of inflation pay increase. Don't do it too much, or your CV won't look good in terms of dedicated to the company.

It also screws your pension up. One survey, and it was a while ago so the figures are more guesses than total recall, revealed that if you change jobs 4 or more times in your life your pension will be a quarter of what it would otherwise have been.

There is no such thing as Job for life any more.

So you are basically lose what ever you do.