The training officer and equal pay for women

Amidst the deluge of recent legislation with which the training officer has had to struggle, one significant statute has received less attention than it deserves. Decimalisation, metrication, industrial relations, value added, and the rest, have all laid claim to our attention, and their claims have been duly granted. Equal Pay, however, has been knocking at the door since 1970, and has, in large measure, gone unheeded. The recent survey by the Industrial Society confirms one's own impression that a majority of companies have taken no steps towards implementing the Act and, indeed, are confused as to its requirements. There are several possible reasons for this neglect. The sheer volume of recent legislation is no doubt a contributing factor. The implementation date of 1975 probably is remote enough to encourage procrastination. The apparent simplicity of the concept may have obscured the far‐reaching implications of the Act. As far as trainers are concerned there has probably been a failure to recognise a training problem as such. The intention of this article is not to discuss the Act itself in detail, nor to tell managements what they should do about it. The intention is to impress upon trainers the fact that this legislation will have widespread consequences which affect them, and that 1975 is far too late to start thinking about it. There is a job to be done which should be started now.