LONDON’S FIRST BAME Mayor has had to admit equality is a long time coming lower down the City Hall ranks. The first ever ethnicity pay audit of the Greater London Authority (GLA) has concluded that the average pay of BAME staff is 17% less than that of white staff.
The report pointed out that there were only two BAME staff among the 42 highest earners in the GLA – implying that the discrimination in pay results from under-representation of BAME staff at the top levels rather than different wages being paid to staff doing the same job.
The pay audit was conducted in the various bodies which run services across London for the GLA.
•Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation The average pay of BAME is 37.5% less than that of white staff
•London Legacy Development Corporation The average pay of BAME is 30% less than that of white staff
•Metropolitan Police Service The report says that the ethnic pay gap was “particularly stark” at 17%.
•GLA For core staff working directly for the authority, the ethnic pay gap is 16%.
•Transport for London (TfL) BAME staff earn, on average, 90% of the pay of their white colleagues.
However, among all the bad news is one shining example. The audit found that there is equal pay in the London Fire Brigade, where the average hourly pay of white and of BAME staff is exactly the same – £16.36.
This comes after years of work by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) to ensure there is equality in the Service – in the face of government cuts on staffing numbers, pensions and other terms and conditions.
The bad news on BAME pay comes after a gender audit conducted in 2016 found that female staff were being paid 95% of male earnings.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan appears to have been shocked by the findings of the pay audit, saying that he was “deeply troubled” by the pay differentials. He praised himself for having made public an issue that had been hidden to date and announced that he is “determined to confront” pay inequality. He has not made any indication of what action he intends to take.
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