North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire Council has finally shifted its position by making revised offers of settlement in respect of some - but not all - of its outstanding equal pay claims.
The revised offers are being made only to catering and cleaning staff at this stage (i.e. former manual worker posts) - and the new offers cover only the period up to November 2006 - when the council's new Job Evaluation (JE) scheme was introduced.
While the new offers to some staff groups represents a real breakthrough - there are still many other groups whose cases have still to be properly addressed - so the ongoing legal action against North Lanarkshire will continue until that happens.
Our preference was for the council to deal with all outstanding claims at the same time - and not in this piecemeal fashion. And we've made it clear to the council that the equal pay claims of carers, classroom assistants and so forth - are just as valid as those of catering and cleaning staff.
So, the fight for these groups will continue - we believe all staff groups should be treated on the same basis - and that's a message we want to get across strongly to local councillors, MSPs and MPS.
The revised offers are being made only to catering and cleaning staff at this stage (i.e. former manual worker posts) - and the new offers cover only the period up to November 2006 - when the council's new Job Evaluation (JE) scheme was introduced.
While the new offers to some staff groups represents a real breakthrough - there are still many other groups whose cases have still to be properly addressed - so the ongoing legal action against North Lanarkshire will continue until that happens.
Our preference was for the council to deal with all outstanding claims at the same time - and not in this piecemeal fashion. And we've made it clear to the council that the equal pay claims of carers, classroom assistants and so forth - are just as valid as those of catering and cleaning staff.
So, the fight for these groups will continue - we believe all staff groups should be treated on the same basis - and that's a message we want to get across strongly to local councillors, MSPs and MPS.
Contact details for local councillors can be found at: www.northlan.gov.uk
Contact details for Holyrood MSPs can be found at: www.scottish.parliament.uk
Contact details for Westminster MPs can be found at: www.parliament.uk
