Ref. Ares(2020)2397400 - 06/05/202
Ref. Ares(2021)3535027 - 28/05/2021 0
From:
Patricia Van Goel
@bbtk-abvv.be>
Sent:
mardi 5 mai 2020 12:55
To:
Cc:
@abvv.be
Subject:
GENDER EQUALITY
Attachments:
To President von der Leyen.docx
To
@ec.europa.eu
President von der Leyen
European Commission
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200
1049 Brussels
Brussels, 5 May 2020
Dear President,
We are contacting you to raise with you the concern of the FGTB-ABVV, a Belgian union representing
more than 1.5 million workers of which 44% women, about the Commission work programme.
We understand from the ETUC that the EU Commission is considering a plan is put the EU Pay
Transparency Directive and the whole Gender Equality Strategy onto ice.
We urge you to reconsider. In our assessment such an approach would be a mistake with far reaching
consequences.
President, you made gender equality a cornerstone of your Presidency. Binding Pay Transparency was
one of your first 100 days commitments. Action to secure gender equality cannot be called into question
even in times of COVID-19 crisis. Equal pay is a requirement of the EU Treaty, it is not a fair weather
option.
There is a strong interconnection between the EU road to recovery plan and establishing the new normal
after Covid-19, this underscores the need for a Gender Equality Strategy. Throughout the EU, key
workers, in sectors where the work is predominantly undertaken by women are underpaid and
undervalued. This needs to be tackled as part of the recovery, working women should not be put to the
back of the queue to be dealt with after the recovery.
The announced Pay Transparency Directive must go ahead and moreover must be reframed to tackle the
root causes of inequality and undervaluing of work. Covid-19 has spotlighted how the unfair market-
determined salaries of workers such as cleaners, retail, transport, care and healthcare workers have
diverged from the real value that they provide to society and the economy. It is long past time that low-
wage workers secure a permanent income boost and earn a fair wage with adequate benefits.
The Pay Transparency Directive can do this by including provisions that assist workers and their unions to
re-evaluate the pay and to secure increases that reflect the real value of the work to the organisations and
society. Crucially it must empower unions to bargain to build a new normal where work that is done by
women is properly valued and paid.
This crisis will mark a new beginning. We need to remember those who are working on the frontlines, in
services, care, cleaning, we can’t repeat what happened after the 2008 crisis when companies bounced
back but working people and gender equality paid the price.
I look forward to your positive response and we remain available to assist you in your endeavours to
secure an EU where Gender Equality is a reality for all women.
-
Yours sincerely
Patricia Van Goel, president of the Gender Commission of FGTB-ABVV Flanders
Patricia Van Goel secretaris financiën,Contact-centers, pc 200( deel), eigen diensten, gender ,
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