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EFBWW News

EFBWW urges the EC to make Pay Transparency Directive a priority

04/11/2020

The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) joins the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and urges the European Commission (EC) to make Pay Transparency Directive a priority. For equal pay and equal working conditions between men and women!

Women are a vital part of the work force, but their value is still not equally recognised in many working places. During their active life, and in various sectors of activity, they suffer discrimination not only in terms of wages but also in working conditions. Recently, Eurostat showed that the EU gender pay gap has only closed by one percentage point over the last eight years. This means women will be waiting for 84 years to achieve equal pay if nothing is done.

In the construction sector, the scenario is not different, and many construction sites are not prepared to adequately integrate women. Female workers represent around 10% of the total construction workforce and around 30% of the wood and furniture sector. The European Green Deal and the digitalisation of our industries can offer major professional opportunities. The development of new attractive professions could potentially increase the number of female workers in our sectors. This will demand a transformation of construction - both mentally and in the organisation of the work on construction sites and in companies. The specific needs of female workers to improve their working conditions and make equal treatment a reality needs to be seriously taken into consideration.

On this day, we share ETUC’s concern that the European Commission has delayed the publication of its pay transparency directive from today until December 15 and cast the entire initiative into doubt by marking it as “TBC”.   

Therefore, we demand that the Commission presents the proposal for an EU Directive on pay transparency to close the gender pay gap as soon as possible. The COVID-19 crisis is no excuse to delay its adoption.  We also demand targeted initiatives to make our industries more attractive to female workers with specific attention to the specific gender dimension raised by the COVID-19 crisis.