This week's Notes and Queries column asks whether equal pay for all jobs would create a better society. Readers are invited to consider the possibility of one wage for everyone, regardless of role.
A Collective Principle
One reader, Stuart Macmillan from Fife, shared their experience working in an equal pay collective. They argued that the person on reception was just as important as the managing director, since their actions could make or break the company. The principle of equal pay, they said, has always seemed a good one.
Macmillan also recalled meeting a member of the British Communist party who had been impressed by a visit to East Germany, then a communist state. The person noted that the incentive for people to become surgeons was not higher pay but the fact that it was more satisfying work than being a road sweeper.
Invitation to Readers
The column invites readers to post their answers and new questions below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection of replies will be published next Sunday.
