THE gender pay gap in Scotland is widening, according to a new analysis conducted by the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC).
Scotland’s largest trade union body say figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show full-time female workers in Scotland earn on average £6400 less than their male counterparts.
The STUC condemned the findings that the pay gap between women and men grew to 11%.
We previously told how English regions were the worst-performing when it came to the gender pay gap based on an ONS analysis from last year.
The trade union body used Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings data from the ONS and said it showed the gender pay gap for all employees increased from 10% to 11%.
Full time female workers in Scotland were paid on average £6418 per year less than their male counterparts.
The STUC argued that real terms cuts to public sector pay are one of the key drivers behind this trend, as there is a higher proportion of women who work in the sector.
It comes as school support staff strike in Scotland as they demand pay of £15 an hour.
Unison members, 90% of whom are women, in school support roles in Glasgow, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire walked out for the day on Wednesday.
Roz Foyer, STUC general secretary, said: "In 2023, more than half a century after the Equal Pay Act was passed, it is nothing short of scandalous that there is a pay gap at all.
“Far from decreasing, political inaction has caused a staggering increase to an almost £6500 gap between full-time male and female workers.
"It is hardly surprising therefore that Unison members, the majority of them women and some of our lowest paid within early years and our local authorities, are taking action today to defend their livelihoods.
“This cannot continue. Cosla still can do the right thing and stand by our local authority workers who have seen their real terms pay cut and their services decimated.
“We stand by each and every worker who has chosen, at great personal cost, to take industrial action and we need to see an urgent solution from the employer before yet more harm is inflicted on our communities by their intransigence.”
Some of those taking industrial action on Wednesday held a rally at Buchanan Steps in Glasgow after braving torrential rain on the picket lines outside their schools earlier in the day.
They told how some spend half the month overdrawn, and could get better paid jobs in a supermarket.
Karis McDermott, 21, a support for learning worker, said she gets £1200 per month after tax, which includes pay for additional responsibility for caring for children with life-threatening health conditions in a peripatetic role around several schools.
Her colleagues who work in the same role without additional responsibility pay get £1068 per month.
