Madam, - The recent European Court of Justice ruling on length of service and equal pay was, as you say (Editorial, October 9th), a retrograde step. The ECJ accepted Britain's argument that length of service criteria for determining pay should require justification only where the employee can prove that it is disproportionate. Bizarrely, the ECJ made no reference to the 1997 European directive reversing the burden of proof in cases of indirect discrimination, which places the obligation on employers to prove that they are not discriminating in cases where there are gender pay differences.
It will come as no surprise that the Irish Government was one of only two countries to support Britain's case. In fact the FF/PD coalition went further and argued that length of service should always be considered legitimate in setting pay. The ECJ rightly rejected this backward line of reasoning. Did the Oireachtas mandate this approach by the Government?
The Commission must now closely examine the implications of this ruling and come forward with appropriate amendments to the European Parliament and the member-state Governments to ensure that the principle of equality between men and women is upheld in practice as well as in principle.
The ECJ is constantly interpreting European legislation where there is a dispute. It is ironic that, in this case, had the proposed European Constitution been in place, Article III-116 - which requires the EU to promote gender equality in all its policies - would have prevented this injustice to European women.
The ruling also highlights the need in Ireland for a proper system of parental leave. This Government's attempts to deny thousands of hard-working parents their EU legal right to parental leave were rejected by the Commission in the late 1990s. Even now, at just 14 weeks of unpaid parental leave, Ireland has one of the worst entitlements in Europe and only 20 per cent of eligible parents have taken this leave since it was introduced. At a minimum, we should now move to a system of paid parental leave available to both parents (modelled on maternity benefit) and available for up to one year, with an option for fathers to take part of that time. Labour has costed this at €260 million. It is a necessary reform and we can afford it.
- Yours, etc,
PROINSIAS DE ROSSA MEP, Labour European Office, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1.