ABSTRACT
Comparative research is always a challenge. It might be thought that researching the gender pay gap in countries covered by the same European Union legislation and principles would make the task much more straightforward. J. Pillinger’s European Trade Union Confederation study provided a valuable overview of national level unions which were shown to have been instrumental in fighting for and implementing legislation to improve pay transparency, for example through company level pay audits, pay surveys, equality plans and income reports. In both the Italian and the Polish cases, it is evident that not only is collective bargaining legally binding but also that the agreements themselves are available for analysis. Again may find differences and limitations in the content of the agreements, but the legally binding nature of collective bargaining in Italy and Poland leads to a level of transparency particularly at the sectoral or industry level agreements, which is unavailable in the UK.
