Europe's gender pay gap will not disappear before 2104 if nothing is done, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) warned on Monday.
The action promised by the European Commission to put an end to this pay gap is still pending, ETUC deplored.
The wage gap has decreased by 1% over the last eight years, according to data from Eurostat. At the current rate of progress, women will have to wait another 84 years to achieve equal pay, according to the ETUC.
Without binding measures, the gap between men and women will even continue to grow in nine Member States, including Poland and Portugal. In Germany and the Czech Republic, women would have to wait until 2121 for equal pay.
In France, the gap is narrowing so slowly (0.1% since 2010) that it will take more than 1,000 years to achieve it, the unions lamented.
In nine other countries, women will have to wait until the second half of this century.
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By contrast, the difference will only be made up in three countries during this decade. The first will be Romania next year. But the ETUC qualifies this as an "unacceptably low" wage for both women and men. Luxembourg will follow in 2027 and Belgium a year later.
The trade union organisation is concerned about the European Commission's postponement of the publication of its directive on pay transparency from 4 November (Equal Pay Day) to 15 December, also casting doubt on the whole initiative by categorising it as "to be confirmed".
ETUC has written to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, seeking assurances that the directive will be implemented despite the pressure.
The Brussels Times
