‘Equal pay’ TUC boss Frances O’Grady is accused of hypocrisy as it emerges her female staff earn less than their male colleagues

• Trade union boss criticised as figures show TUC’s female staff earn less than men
• Frances O’Grady called for big employers to do more over their gender pay gaps
• But her own trade union sees women earn 94p for every £1 a male worker earns 
• Other trade unions such as Unison and Unite the Union have gender pay gaps

A trade union boss has been accused of hypocrisy after it emerged her female staff earn less than their male colleagues.

Frances O’Grady called for big employers to do more after figures released last week showed nearly half of all major British companies failed to reduce their gender pay gap over the last year.

But figures show a gap exists within the TUC’s own employees, with women at the organisation now earning 94p for every £1 earned by a man.

Two years ago there was no gap at the union between what women and men were paid, according to figures from the Gender Pay Gap Service.

O’Grady, who is the TUC general secretary, saw her pay grow last year by £18,000 – bringing her total package to £175,000 a year. 

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady told big employers to do more to tackle their gender pay gaps. She is pictured speaking at a trade union press conference on Brexit

She recently criticised firms that did not tackle the their own gender pay gaps and called bosses who did not take action to be fined.

Earlier this week she said: ‘Big employers clearly aren’t doing enough to tackle the root causes of pay inequality and working women are paying the price.

‘Government needs to crank up the pressure. Companies shouldn’t just be made to publish their gender pay gaps; they should be legally required to explain how they’ll close them, and bosses who flout the law should be fined.’  

New figures published last week showed nearly half of all major British companies have failed to reduce their gender pay gap over the last year.

Of the organisations which met last week’s deadline for reporting gender pay figures, 78 per cent have shown a gap in favour of men – despite Theresa May vowing last year to tackle the ‘burning injustice’ of unequal pay.

The gap actually became bigger in 45 per cent of companies – mainly due to men’s earnings rising faster than women’s.

A TUC spokesman said that the shift in the union’s pay gap was down to it being a small organisation that had seen recent changes to staff members. 

He said: ‘We keep a careful eye on our pay gap data, which we publish voluntarily. 

Frances O’Grady after a meeting at 10 Downing Street in January to discuss Brexit 

‘As a small organisation, a few staffing changes can have a big impact on our headline figures. 

‘We have put robust measures in place to ensure a low pay gap including transparent pay structures and generous childcare policies, and we’ll continue to monitor and update our action plan.’

Other unions also have wide gender pay gaps, including Unite the Union, where women earn 28 per cent less than their male counterparts. 

Public sector union, Unison, which is the largest in the UK, sees female employees earn 85p for every £1 a male worker earned, according to the figures.

Nearly half of all major British companies failed to reduce their gender pay gap over the last year, the figures revealed. 

Employers whose gender pay gap increased in size year-on-year also include Huddersfield Town FC, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Dyfed-Powys Police, Ryanair and Kwik Fit. 

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