One of the most ill conceived and un-needed policies from the current government is coming back to haunt all of us. The revised 1970 equal pay legislation is just beginning to show its impact - and guess what, women aren't getting pay rises and those on higher salaries are being forced in to getting pay cuts (even higher paid women). I believe that equality in the workplace is an important issues - but it seems that the government takes the meaning of equality not just as an equal opportunity to progress but a right to progress within your chosen career regardless of the circumstance. What ever happened to competition and merit? If a company wants to maximise its output and profits they would be wise to put the best people in place for the job and pay them whatever they want and what the market place demands. This policy is verging on positive discrimination. Whilst on the surface it may appear to be a good policy, the knock on effects are proving to counter any good that it may have done.
Why does the government feel it is its place to engineer such a false environment in the competitive world of business? And why does it take it upon itself to punish those who have worked their way up the corporate ladder, only to be forced in to taking a pay cut to appease the PC agenda? There is no such thing as complete equality in a free and open market - those who are better will rise above those who are not, and rightly so. And to put a financial cost on this terrible piece of legislation - the compensation claims for up to 1.5 million workers could cost the taxpayer more than £10 billion and mean that male staff lose up to 40 per cent of their salary. £10billion of public money to give everyone a pay cut. Lunacy.