Valletta the venue for latest on pay transparency
Our latest project event takes place in Malta.
In December, we kickstarted our two-year project on the implementation of the pay transparency directive online, having waited and advocated for this piece of legislation for many years.
This text is an opportunity to re-balance the unjustifiable pay scales we see in many companies, providing workers (through their trade unions) with the chance to challenge and remove pay inequality where it exists.
For professionals and managers, binding regulation has never been more necessary. The gap in pay between the sexes is most pronounced for technical and associate professionals, professionals and managers, with the latter at a 24% gap in € per hour, far in a way more than any other category of workers.
Eurocadres, having long advocated for the text along with other trade unions, now turn our attention to the transposition of the directive, given the wide range of changes it will bring to workers, and the opportunities it presents. For our first in-person event, we were hosted in Valletta by GWU – with thanks to Riccarda and colleagues for their excellent organisation and contributions. Along with the fantastic input from GWU General Secretary Josef Bugeja, the visit provided us the opportunity to stress the need for a strong transposition to key national figures, with us meeting, amongst others, Diane Vella Muscat – National Department for Industrial and Employment relations, Dr Andy Ellul – Parliamentary Secretary for Social Dialogue, Commissioner Renee Laiviera – National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, and Professor Anna Borg – Maltese Women’s Lobby.
Over the course of the two days, our workshop sought to provide an overview of the nuances within the text relevant to both trade union involvement and remuneration for professionals and managers, blending the victories from the directive with real workplace examples.
Thursday morning consisted of an overview of the directive and the presentation of our report on pay transparency, provided by Gender5+’s Dr Barbara Helfferich. National examples of remuneration models for professionals and managers, including benefits ranging from stock options to transportation support, company cars, bonuses etc, were provided by APIQA’s Federica Cochi/Manola Cavallini and UGICT-CGT’s Emmanuelle Lavignac.
Participants were then asked to break into working groups for our afternoon session, and to consider a number of issues, such as awareness raising of the directive and information within, how workers can use the text to access justice, negotiation tactics and much more.
We were delighted to be joined byEPSU’s Paola Panzeri to kickstart our Friday morning, followed by presentations from Akava’s Lotta Savinko and UGT’s Paula Ruiz Torres. We concluded with a working group session on identifying pathways for the transposition of the directive in a manner that fits the specific needs of Professionals and Managers, and presentations on the findings of each of the working groups.
Additional information can be found via media coverage from Times of Malta and Talk.mt.
Our thanks once again to our excellent hosts from GWU Malta, and to attendees in-person and online.
The project will continue in the coming months, with business groups’ opposition to the implementation of the directive an unwelcome addition to the ongoing work. All details on upcoming workshops to be shared with members shortly.