NLC Update (02/09/15)



I attended another very lively GMB members meeting on equal pay at the Kirkshaws Social Club in Coatbride yesterday.

The GMB officials who turned up were given a tough time over three issues in particular:
  • Why is there such a lack of communication and regular updates from the GMB?
  • Why did the GMB stick to a policy of 3-year claims for so long, until August 2015? 
  • Will the GMB compensate its members in NLC if the union fails to put things right via the Employment Tribunals?   
Apparently the senior GMB officials and their advisers are meeting In Glasgow on Thursday (3rd September) to take stock of the current situation and decide how to proceed on a number of issues, so maybe the union will listen to its members and post an update on its web site that same day.

For obvious reasons the GMB is trying to throw the spotlight onto North Lanarkshire Council because the union can't give a good answer to the question: "Why didn't you change tack and follow the lead of Action 4 Equality Scotland and the other claimant organisations months ago?"

Significantly, the two other trade unions (Unison and Unite) swallowed their pride and did so, which benefited their members even though they were obviously riding on the coattails of Action 4 Equality Scotland.  

In any event, I can't see the present situation lasting forever because if the GMB doesn't manage to move things forward soon, members in NLC will have to consider whether or not the union really is capable of digging itself out of this great big hole of its own making.

Time will tell, of course, although in the meantime I received the following email from a GMB member who attended yesterday's meeting in Coatbridge.

Hi Mark

I was at meeting this afternoon in Coatbridge, may I say in my opinion you were the only one there who gave the details honestly and clearly. 

J

North Lanarkshire Update (26/08/15)


Well the GMB members meeting in North Lanarkshire yesterday was certainly a lively affair with well over 40 people turning up, at only a few days notice.

The discussion focused on three main areas:
  • How did GMB members get into the mess they find themselves in today?
  • What is the current position in relation to North Lanarkshire Council and the Employment Tribunals?
  • What can members do if things drag on and the GMB fails to successfully amend their members claims, so that they can be settled on the same basis as the other claimants from Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite? 
In response to the invitation I issued on the blog site, two GMB representatives came along tot he Kirkshaws Social Club: Paul Grieve, a local union organiser and Douglas Japp, a solicitor with Digby Brown.

Paul had virtually nothing to say, of substance anyway, and although Douglas made a better fist of trying to answer people's questions and comments, it's still not clear why the GMB did not act much sooner to abandon the restriction on their members' claims to only 3 years.

So while Douglass was able to explain that the original '3 year' decision was down to a national policy of the GMB, there was no information about when this decision was made, who made the decision (within the GMB) and why the decision wasn't quickly reversed when the GMB realised that all the other claimant groups were challenging the very basis of North Lanarkshire's pay arrangements and the Council's job evaluation scheme.

As you would expect, many of those present had very strong opinions about the handling of their equal pay claims and made their views known to Douglas and Paul who agreed to take people's concerns back to GMB headquarters in Glasgow.

For me there are three key points to emerge from the meeting:
  • What is a realistic timescale for bringing this whole business to a conclusion?
  • Will the GMB give union members in North Lanarkshire a guarantee to compensate them for their financial loss, if the GMB fails to amend their claims from 3 years - to 8 years and 3 months?
  • If GMB members are left 'holding the baby' for the GMB's mistakes, can they sue their own union and its advisers over the handling of their equal pay claims?
I don't know the answer to the first two points, but if the GMB does not step up to the plate and accept responsibility for what's happened, then I would say union members need to consider other ways of holding their own union to account.  

Three final points.

The first is that senior GMB officials have finally agreed (after all this time) to attend a GMB members meeting in North Lanarkshire - I'll post the details on the blog site and an happy to go along as well, if I'm invited.

The second is that the timing (5pm) of yesterday's meeting did not suit the backshift GMB members, so if people want to arrange a meeting a little later in the evening I'm happy to attend.

Thirdly, there was some confusion surrounding the venue of yesterday's meeting at the Kirkshaws Social Club and quite a few GMB members who wanted to be present were told that there was no meeting taking place, apparently. So my apologies for that but there will be a 'next time', I suspect. 

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