Union calls on finance industry to get serious about pay equity
Thursday, 1 March 2007
The latest round of ABS pay data shows the pay gap in the finance and insurance industry remains entrenched with women continuing to earn on average just 77% of their male counterparts.
The ABS Employees Earnings and Hours paper has rated the finance and insurance industry as having the widest gap in female to male earnings ratios and is another in a long list of bad report cards for the industry.
The Finance Sector Union has labeled the statistic a blight on an industry that employs more women than men, enjoys one of the healthiest levels of profitability and prides itself as progressive on workplace diversity.
The Union is calling on employers in the sector to begin seriously addressing the issue or face the prospect of alienating talented employees and entrenching a perception of the industry as incapable or intransigent on addressing discriminatory practice.
Paul Schroder, National Secretary of the FSU, said "As an industry we just can't put our heads in the sand over the issue. It is complex and it takes a cooperative approach to identifying the causes and working through the remedies."
"FSU has invited the industry to start working with us on correcting the gap. The National Australia Bank has taken up this initiative and should be applauded for its work to date, with a report on our joint work expected in the next few weeks."
"But it will take more than one employer to correct the industry picture. It's time all employers started to take a collective responsibility for the issue and engaged with us and other academic and government agencies to address pay equity in the finance industry now." Said Mr. Schroder.
Contact Details
FSU Member Rights Centre
Ph: 1300 366 378
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Authorised By: Paul Schroder, FSU National Secretary