Almost all the Member States of the European Union will fail to meet the 7 June deadline for transposing Directive 2023/970 on pay transparency into their national legislation, denounced the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in a press release published on Friday 5 June.
In particular, this Directive requires employers to make available to employees the average pay figures by gender for work of equal value, to report any pay gaps, and to take action if these exceed 5%.
To date, only Italy, Lithuania and Slovakia have completed the transposition process, while almost half the Member States have not even published draft legislation.
The ETUC attributes this delay to “intense lobbying by employers’ organisations” against the Directive, who complain of a “regulatory burden”. In the face of what she described as a “betrayal”, Esther Lynch, General Secretary of the Confederation, urged the European Commission to “hold governments to their responsibilities”. Her Deputy, Isabelle Schömann, pointed out that “every year without action would cost women an average of €4,256 in lost wages”.
Meanwhile, 10 employers’ organisations have firmly rejected these accusations, stating in a joint press release their “strong commitment to the principle of equal pay”. In their view, this widespread delay is due to “significant legal, technical and operational challenges”.
The signatories believe that transposing the Directive into national law risks disrupting social dialogue and the collective bargaining systems already in place, which, in their view, are “well-functioning”. SMEs are considered particularly vulnerable, as technical assistance and training measures are “still not available in many Member States”.
To avoid “legal uncertainty” during the initial implementation phase, employers are therefore calling for the introduction of a temporary mechanism to suspend deadlines (‘stop-the-clock’). They are also calling for technical clarifications, targeted adjustments to the Directive and a “presumption of compliance” for collective agreements.
The ETUC press release: https://aeur.eu/f/m73 and the press release from the 10 employers’ organisations: https://aeur.eu/f/m7g (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)