On 30/10/2014 13:40, Eskimo Will wrote:

"Graham P Davis" wrote in message
news:20141030132558.501aca2f@home-1...
On Thu, 30 Oct 2014 12:12:53 -0000
"Eskimo Will" wrote:

The offer in no way addresses pay inequalities between sexes

Not quite sure what you mean by this one, Will. The only pay inequality
I noticed when I first started work for the Met Office was that the
take-home pay of a man was lower than that of a woman of equal grade
and service. That was due to only the male workers paying for
widows-and-orphans benefits. However, that went away with pensions
reorganisation years later.

There was an exercise done, in 2011 I think, that looked at pay equality
and there are instances of womens and mens pay in the same grade/same
length of service being different (not necessarily women lower). Reasons
for this are complex and possibly stem in part from pay offered on
appointment. Pay inequality is not really a big issue in the MetO,
however, as it is an equal opportunities employer, but staff were
promised over 5 years ago that any unfair inequalities would be sorted.
They haven't been. In fact the pay system is now effectively broken (due
to government imposition) and things are getting worse not better.

Will
Wasn't there also the issue of women taking time off for children (x
years) and coming back to the same pay scale, but men who joined at the
same time had continued up the pay scale (spine) so were getting more
than the women?