Hillary Shaw said:
>Following Linda Mc Dowells and prof tim Brown's comments, did >anyone
>else actually work out the percentage differnetials for the differemt
>categories of university workers. Not only are women underpaid vis a >vis
men, bur as one ascended the pay scale from general worker to
>senior professor, there was a slight tendency for the pay gap to
>widen. Universities too have a glass ceiling it seems!
Let's not forget also that the majority of women working in universities are
employed in low paid manual and clerical roles. And, with something like ten
different pay scales and bargaining groups, there is the potential for a
whole of equal pay for work of equal values claims between staff on the
different overlapping grading scales e.g.:
(male) manual craftworker and (female) cleaning supervisor
(female) lab technician and (male) clerical officer
(male) 'academic-related' departmental administrator and
(female) 'clerical' departmental secretary
As I presume most UK-based members of this list are either AUT or NATFHE
members, can I just chip in to remind colleagues that UNISON in higher
education have long suggested that a single pay spine and single table
bargaining might go some way to eradicating some of these inequalities. I
*do* recognise, however, that this measure alone, won't solve all the
problems of gender inequality and pay in the university sector, but I felt
it was inportant to look at the whole problem, not just how it impacts on
academic staff.
Gavin Brown
(with his university administrator/UNISON activist hat on)
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