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Conference tallis::celt

Title:	Celt Notefile

Moderator:	TALLIS::DARCY

Created:	Wed Feb 19 1986
Last Modified:	Tue Jun 03 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1632
Total number of notes:	20523

379.0. "Mna ag obair" by HBO::OFARRELL () Thu May 12 1988 08:51

        I have just read a memo of notes from the Manufacturing 
        Women's forum on which there was just one line about 
        Ireland:- "In Ireland there are 300 cases in the courts 
        where women were fired because they got married"
        
        While by no means do I want to give the impression that 
        there is equality in the workplace in Ireland or Digital 
        Ireland, I would like to refute the impression given by 
        the above single statement.
        
        Before doing so I would like to get my facts straight so 
        can someone confirm whether the above statement is true 
        (which I suspect it is) but more importantly give me the 
        background to the issue which I suspect leads to a 
        completely different conclusion than the one given by the 
        one sentence without background.
        
        Dia dhuit,
        
        Willie

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
379.1	How about...	DEALIN::ONEILL	Its a LONG way to Tipperary...	`Thu May 12 1988 10:59`	16
	Hi Willie, I heard about that forum but cant remember from where ... you could put an entry in the WOMANNOTES file - Im sure some of those ladies could point you in the right direction if you're having problems finding someone to help here Will u publish any findings here on the subject? Being fired because a woman got married seems to be a bit too sexist to be even tried by an employer - no matter what the job was! Ann Ann
379.2	Not True	GAO::FERRIE	Liam Ferrie - Galway	`Thu May 12 1988 12:29`	20
	I found this a hard statistic to swallow. From time to time we hear of individual cases in the newspapers but these are fairly rare. I decided to phone the Employment Equality Agency [1] in Dublin to see if they could throw light on the matter. First of all I was told (and already knew) that it is illegal to discriminate against a woman in the work place, by reason of her sex or marital status. Where a woman believes she has been discriminated against, she is entitled to take the matter to the Labour Court. The person I spoke said that "to the best of my knowledge there are NO such cases pending" and categorically discounted the allegation regarding the 300. [1] The Employment Equality Agency was set up some years ago by the Government to ensure that women are treated fairly in all aspects of employment. Liam
379.3		VAXWRK::DENIS		`Thu May 12 1988 15:02`	7
	Re .2: Liam, I don't know if it's true, but in an English humorous book, (I could find the reference when I'll be back over the pond) I read a while ago that when accused by the EEC of salary discrimination between men and women, the Irish government hired some controllers to check the government offices to see if this was true: The wages offered were lower for women... Denis.
379.4	Not quite true	GAO::FERRIE	Liam Ferrie - Galway	`Thu May 12 1988 16:33`	31
	I would not believe everything I read about Ireland in an English humorous journal but they might have been referring to the following news story which I summarised in The Irish Emigrant, on February 7 last, as follows: EQUAL PAY FOR UNEQUAL WORK Bord Telecom refused to grant some female staff pay equality with their male colleagues on the grounds that the men were doing lesser work. The existing legislation only calls for equal pay for equal work. The females were left on a lower rate of pay. The case eventually went to the European court (with the backing of the Government) where the women won out. Bord Telecom is a semi-state body and it is not clear to me why it had to go to court at all but I can think on two possible reasons: a) the Government wanted to set a precedent so that private employers could not use this excuse? b) Bord Telecom were afraid that if they paid the women more without going to court then the Unions might have insisted on an increase for the men to maintain traditional pay differentials? Maybe I am being unfair to the Unions. Liam
379.5		VAXWRK::DENIS		`Fri May 13 1988 08:30`	4
	Re .4: I remember that article in "The Irish Emigrant", Liam, but what I was refering to was published in a book about 9 or 10 years ago. I guess the case is still not resolved... Denis.