Says It Happened 45 Years Ago.
ACCORDING to former trade unionist Winall Joshua this month marks the 45th. Anniversary of the introduction in St Lucia of equal pay for women , following an initiative by him.
A former officer of the now defunct Vieux Fort General and Dockworkers Union, Joshua said it was on April 15, 1971 when, using his position as Personnel Manager at the then Halcyon Days Hotel in Vieux Fort, he first introduced a wages system in St. Lucia in which male and female workers employed at that hotel, in the same position and capacity, receiving the same remuneration.
“Prior to the establishment of this milestone in the development of female workers in St. Lucia, female workers who were employed in the same capacity and position with their male counterparts were paid at a lower rate”, Joshua said adding that this was most prevalent in the agricultural sector where female labourers were paid a much lower rate than male labourers, and in the hospitality industry and the clerical sector.
By introducing a system of “equal pay for equal work” for the 400 plus workers employed at the Halcyon Days Hotel at the time, Joshua said he dealt a very serious blow to the old fashioned “wage discriminatory system”, and heralded the beginning of a fair, just and equitable system for remunerating workers in St. Lucia.
Added, Joshua, now Mayor of Vieux Fort: “Other employers had no choice but to follow suit and the trade unions in St. Lucia quickly adopted this procedure by including it in their contract proposals.
“Thus the town of Vieux Fort became the cradle of this major revolutionary system which, from then onwards, ensured that female workers in St. Lucia were treated as equals with their male co-workers when it came to matters of remuneration and reward for work done by them”.