Hafnarfjörður receives equality award from the Equality Council
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Today, Thorsteinn Víglundsson, Minister for Social Affairs and Equality, presented the Equality Council's equality award at a ceremony in Hannesarholti. The progressive and ambitious policy of the City of Hafnarfjörður makes the municipality a comprehensive pioneer in the field of equality, states the Equality Council's justification.
It was Haraldur L. Haraldsson who accepted the award on behalf of the City of Hafnarfjörður, along with a group from the city's various departments and representatives on the City Council's Equal Opportunities Committee. „We are proud of the progress we have made in recent years and it was truly gratifying to be the first local authority to meet the requirements of the equal pay standard.“
Haraldur reviewed the achievements and the municipality's further objectives in this area. He then added, „I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff of the City of Hafnarfjörður. The Equality Council's Equality Award is another rose in the staff's buttonhole, and for it, we are extremely grateful.“
Hafnarfjörður was the first of the Icelandic municipalities to receive the equal pay certificate from the Ministry of Welfare. The aim of the implementation was to establish and maintain pay equality within the City of Hafnarfjörður and to fulfil employers' obligations to ensure equal rights for women and men, pay them equal wages and ensure they enjoy the same terms and conditions for the same or work of equal value.
The working group that managed the implementation was appointed by Andri Ómarsson, Project Manager; Berglind Guðrún Bergþórsdóttir, HR Manager; Haraldur Eggertsson, Project Manager; and Lúvísa Sigurðardóttir, Quality Manager.
The Slut Walk also received the same award today for important grassroots work that has had a decisive impact on society and opened up the discussion about sexual violence.
Rationale for the Equality Council's recognition of equality:
Hafnarfjörður is a progressive municipality in the field of equality issues and this summer, the first of Icelandic municipalities, received certification for its pay system, which meets the requirements of the Equal Pay Standard.
The City of Hafnarfjörður has been working purposefully towards pay equality since 2013, when the municipality joined a pilot project by the Ministry of Finance and Welfare to implement an equal pay system in accordance with the equal pay standard.
The aim of the City of Hafnarfjörður in participating in the project was to establish and maintain pay equality among the city's employees by ensuring that women and men have equal rights to the same pay for the same or equally valuable work.
Hafnarfjörður operates under a municipal job evaluation system, which provides a standardised assessment of different jobs. The job evaluation makes the basis for pay grading transparent, making it possible to determine the same pay for comparable or equally valuable jobs, regardless of gender, job position or trade union.
Today, an equal pay council operates within the Municipality of Hafnarfjörður, its representatives are appointed by the municipality's department heads and they act on behalf of its senior management. The council's main task is to implement an action plan and ensure effective oversight of pay decisions, which includes, among other things:
• Review of the pay analysis and the action plan based on it
• Review of submitted suggestions
• Implementation of internal controls and audits
• To inform senior management of the project status
• Providing all staff with information about the council's equal pay scheme
The equal pay system facilitates visibility and monitoring of how the municipality's objectives to work towards and maintain pay equality are followed up on in an open and transparent manner.
Another objective of the City of Hafnarfjörður, in addition to working to ensure equal pay for women and men, is to use its equality plan to promote the most equal gender balance in management positions and in certain occupations within the municipality. This is implemented through a regular review of the number of managers by gender and the gender ratio within specific professions, and action is taken to address gender imbalances where appropriate.
The Municipality of Hafnarfjörður adopted an Equality and Human Rights Policy at the beginning of 2017. It was developed by a cross-party working group that the Head of Human Resources worked with, and according to it, targeted work is to be carried out against all discrimination. The policy applies to the municipality's various roles, namely as a public authority, an employer, a service provider, and in its partnerships. All municipal institutions are required to operate in accordance with it, and each institution appoints an equality lead, whose role is to be the champion of gender mainstreaming in all of the municipality's work.
From the above, it can be seen that the City of Hafnarfjörður pursues a very progressive and ambitious policy on equality issues. This targeted work by the municipality in the field of equality, including the equal pay certification, makes Hafnarfjörður a comprehensive pioneer in equality at the local government level. The experience and knowledge that the City of Hafnarfjörður has built up through its ambitious work should serve as an example and an encouragement to other municipalities. We therefore believe that the City of Hafnarfjörður is well deserving of the Equality Council's equality award.