The proposal for a directive on wage transparency is still being drawn up by the European Commission and “should be presented in the coming months”, a spokesman for the institution told EUROPE on Wednesday 13 January.
A flagship measure of the new European strategy on gender equality (see EUROPE 12440/7), this first piece of legislation developed under the leadership of the Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, should initially have been presented within the first 100 days of the Commission’s mandate (see EUROPE 12298/18). Without success.
Despite repeated commitments by Ms Dalli to return her copy before the end of last year and a briefly planned presentation in mid-December (see EUROPE 12595/23), nothing has yet been presented. And, according to the Commission’s legislative calendar of last 23 December, the institution does not intend to unveil its directive before March 2021.
Without giving further explanations as to the reasons for the delay, the Commission spokesperson merely assured EUROPE that the institution remained “fully committed” to introducing binding measures on pay transparency. “Quality comes before speed”, he added.
Others become impatient. After several reminders (see EUROPE 12595/23), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) posted, on Tuesday 12 January, wanted notices for the directive in the vicinity of the Commission in Brussels.
In a letter sent the same day to the president of the European institution, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) said that delaying the directive “would be a betrayal of the millions of women who disproportionately hold the jobs that put them at the forefront of this crisis”.
However, the initiative is not eagerly awaited by all: a number of national trade unions, business organisations and public authorities were sceptical when the consultation was launched in January 2020, fearing in particular that it would place an additional administrative burden on companies.
See ETF letter: https://bit.ly/2LvdfKL and the results of the consultation: https://bit.ly/39s7Kom (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)