Collective bargaining: building solidarity through the fight against inequalities and discrimination

Equality bargaining, in essence, is turning the resource of collective bargaining to the objectives of equality and diversity in work and employment. This article traces the progress of equality bargaining, with a focus on the UK. It explores the decline of the coverage and scope of collective bargaining, and the increase in pay gaps on the vertical plane alongside extant social divisions and inequalities. It also looks at legal solutions including statutory mechanisms to achieve collective bargaining and national minimum wage. It notes that in the UK, women are more likely to be covered by collective bargaining; and despite a hostile economic climate, characterised by the fragmentation of bargaining through privatisation, it has survived a union pay premium that is larger for women. The paper further discusses the limitations of both the national minimum wage and the voluntary living wage for equality and concludes by supporting calls for the rebuilding of sectoral collective bargaining, but emphasises that this needs to be inclusive and expansive. Adapted from the source document.