This is an HTML version of an attachment to the Freedom of Information request 'Proposal for a directive on pay transparency'.




Ref. Ares(2020)2372694 - 05/05/202
Ref. Ares(2021)3535027 - 28/05/2021 0
From: 
Client support team 
@hotmail.com> 
Sent: 
mardi 5 mai 2020 09:38 
To: 
 
Subject: 
Gender Equality 
President von der Leyen 
European Commission 
Rue de la Loi / Wetstraat 200 
1049 Brussels 
Belgium
Dear President,
We are contacting you to raise with you the concern of the Dutch Trade Union FNV 
Women Network 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 comittments. Action to secure gender 
equality cannot be cal ed 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 forca 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 que 
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 
Anya Wiersma  
Chair Int. Work group Network Women FNV 
@hotmail.com