1. People who work in sectors and businesses where the majority of employees are women have lower salaries than those working in sectors and businesses where the majority of employees are men. People working in female-dominated sectors need to receive larger salary increases than those working in male-dominated sectors in order to put an end to salary differences. To manage this change, we need to build wide-ranging alliances between the trade unions concerned, from both the public and the private sectors.

2. In many countries and in profession after profession, sector after sector, the position is that employees in female-dominated sectors have lower salaries than their colleagues in male-dominated sectors.

3. These established salary differences apply to virtually all employees in female-dominated jobs, regardless of whether they are in private or public employment, regardless of profession and regardless of gender. Generally, salaries in female-dominated activities are simply always lower than in male-dominated activities.

4. There are also considerable structural differences between different occupations which create inexplicable and unacceptable salary differences between different employees in the same profession, depending on whether they work in male- or female-dominated sectors.

5. In order to achieve a permanent change of these conditions it is necessary that, during a few years, female-dominated sectors be allowed to have higher levels of salary increases than male-dominated sectors, and for these higher levels of salary increases to be used purposefully to reduce general salary differences between female- and male-dominated sectors.

6. Action of this kind demands wide support by all parties concerned, both among trade unions and among employers’ organisations. The actions must be accepted by most parties, even from male-dominated sectors, in order to avoid the demands only appearing as narrow special interests. If many people support the proposed actions there is a good base for the actions to succeed, without leading to demands for compensation from male-dominated sectors.

7. It will be necessary to create broad alliances between the trade unions involved to provide us with the best opportunities of creating the permanent changes in salary relations between male- and female-dominated sectors that we seek. The best solution would be if we could formulate common objectives and create common strategies to achieve these objectives with other concerned organisations.

Congress urges EPSU:

8. To make an addition to the resolution on equal pay and to EPSU’s pay policies to the effect that it is not acceptable that salaries in female-dominated sectors are lower than in male-dominated sectors and that such salary differences must be eliminated, and

9. As a methodology to point to the necessity of seeking broad-based alliances in order to formulate common demands together with other concerned trade unions.

Adopted 10 June 2009

RA3 Equal Pay - EN