enforced.' They recognise that, far from NO TEETH - including parties. If this conciliation is asked to take action to cease a The women of Trico refuse to appear before an industrial tribunal to resolve their fight for equal pay. Their strike bulletin argues that pressure from the labour movement and women's movement brought about the Equal Pay Act. Only our own action through passed. the union will ensure that the Act is The women have seen through one of the massive loopholes of the Labour Government's equal pay legislation.
assisting the fight for equal pay, the courts and tribunals can defuse and weaken the fight by shifting attention from the strength of collective action to the so-called 'neutral' courts.
Any detailed consideration of the tribunal system adds weight to the position taken by the Trico women.
The system financially excludes most working class women from following their own claim because legal aid is not provided. The whole procedure is also tribunal lengthy and bound by red tape.
Cases must first be taken to the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS), where conciliation will be attempted between the two minority. unsuccessful the case is taken to a tribunal. If the tribunal finds in the women's favour and the employer is discriminatory practice, there then has to be a 'reasonable period' for the employer to carry out this request.
If the employer continues to discriminate, the Equal Opportunities Commission can be approached to take the case back to the tribunal to prove non-implementation. If the tribunal agrees, an injunction can then be sought from the county courts. Meanwhile .... up to two years have Even when tribunals find in women's favour, they have no teeth. For example, if the BOC wins a court injunction for the implementation of the original tribunal decision, the employer can only be summoned for contempt of court. The employer cannot legally be bound to cease the discriminatory practice. A similar hole in the Race Relations Act has already had a tank driven through it by Robert Relf and the National Front.
The composition of the tribunal is also set against the interests of working class women. Three people sit on the - a lawyer, a management nominee, and a trade unionist. A recent report from the Department of Employment showed that two-thirds of senior management-from whom a third of tribunal members are drawn —are opposed to equal pay. A positive attitude from the trade union representative is in no way guaranteed, and anyway she/he is in a In most cases the tribunals use that part ortne AcE wiien says that women should get equal pay when they do 'the same or broadly similar work' to let the employer off the hook. Recently an employee of Leicester Council for Voluntary Service applied for a £400 a year rise to obtain equality with a younger man, whose job she created and supervised. The tribunals found that there were no grounds for equal pay because her job involved greater responsibility and was therefore not the 'same or broadly similar"! NO SURPRISE It should therefore come as no surprise that of the 110 equal pay cases taken to tribunals in the first six months since the Act became law, only 31 were successful. Of the 20 cases reviewed by tribunals under the Sex Discrimination Act, only five were successful. Even where tribunals have found in women's favour, employers have searched for ways to avoid implementing its decisions. Three Kent fruit pickers quickly learnt this.
Under the Sex Discrimination Act, Canterbury fruit farmers Scott & Knowies were Dune ave discriminated against these women by lowering their hours and rate of pay against those of the men. When the women went back to the employer with this ruling they were greeted with the threat that free transport would be withdrawn unless they accepted a rate of 80p an hour-11½p less than the car-owning men, who do not need transport.
Healey may have exempted equal pay from the pay controls, but it is clear that women will not get something for nothing. The women of Trico and their sisters in struggle in Birmingham, Glasgow and now Anglesey are showing that the only way to win equal pay is to rely on thei own strength and organisation.