Fight For Equal Pay Continues

Sunday 5th April 1936

The Civil Service unions set to work to try to capitalize on the surprise vote in favour of equal pay for equal work the Thursday before. W.J. Brown,  Secretary of the Civil Service Clerical Association, had spoken for all the unions involved when he called on the government to respect the will of Parliament. 300,000 civil servants and not just the 15,000 women who would have benefited immediately were asked to write to their MPs.

There was a wider constitutional aspect to the issue. Baldwin had practically said it was in the government's power simply to ignore the vote. Precedent was against the government. A similar defeat in the House of Commons on the issue of ex-service entrants to the Civil Service had force the Government into holding a full scale inquiry.