[nomadking]

Originally Posted by Flyboy

I don't get why you raised the US bill and equated it to the one here. They are two completely different laws, in two completely different countries.

The TV news report was a UK(BBC2 Newsnight?) report on the impact of UK proposal as already implemented in the US.

Private companies bidding for Government contracts could be forced to promote women and ethnic minorities under Harriet Harman's controversial Equality Bill.

Firms will have to prove their commitment to the equal rights agenda to win taxpayer-funded work worth a total of more than £200billion, under the Bill in the Queen's Speech yesterday.

Miss Harman has suggested firms will be judged on criteria including the gender and race of their staff before being offered work by local authorities and Government bodies.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

Nonsense. I have met people who have been in their jobs for decades and still don't know their arse from their elbows, whereas some young fresh employee runs rings around them. I am sure you have met some as well.

Depends on the type of job and whether the person has had any similar experience in a previous job.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

That is because women's incomes have forever, been woefully behind those of men's, or am I wrong?

Are you comparing pay for the same jobs or for different jobs?

IIRC there was a recent case where women were going to be given backdated pay on the grounds of equality, but men who had been doing the same job as those women at the same original pay as them were not going to get the backdated money. This is a classic example of equality only being one-way traffic.
Found the story I was thinking of.

Another claim against the councils by low-paid women workers, including cleaners and dinner ladies, who were also not 'topped up', succeeded and they were awarded settlements. But the men had continued to be paid less than both the better-paid men and the women.

Any settlements for the men will be delayed as at least one council, South Tyneside, plans to appeal against the ruling by the Employment Appeal Tribunal at the High Court in London.

Originally Posted by Flyboy

This is about the local authority finding an excuse to save a shed load of money and nothing to with equality at all.

Council bosses say the new pay and grading structure has been drawn up to ensure the council meets equal pay legislation, which says people doing work assessed as being of equal value are paid the same.