Glasgow - Breaking News
The news from Glasgow is that today's meeting with the City Council actually went ahead and made some progress towards agreeing a credible process to resolve the long running equal pay dispute.
Now I think it's fair to say that not much was expected of this first meeting with the Council Leader and its senior officials, but proposals put forward jointly by A4ES and Unison were discussed and will be considered in more detail at the next meeting scheduled for Monday 11th December 2017.
In my view, the key issue facing the City Council is committing itself wholeheartedly to a settlement process which accepts that Glasgow's in-house WPBR pay scheme is an insult to the principle of 'equal pay for work of equal value'.
In which case the WPBR needs to be scrapped and replaced in a way that compensates low paid workers for being ruthlessly cheated out of their right to equal pay for the past 10 years - followed by the introduction of new pay arrangements which command the support of the council's largely female workforce.
I hope that next week's meeting starts getting down to 'brass tacks' which is not rocket science and simply means:
- agreeing terms of reference for the negotiators
- agreeing a timetable to complete the negotiations
- addressing the issues in a sensible order of priority
- placing a value on all the outstanding equal pay claims
- identifying a credible replacement for Glasgow's 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay scheme
City Council's officers are making a very big mistake if they think that an appeal to the UK Supreme Court can get Glasgow out of a huge hole dug by previous administrations who brought in a duplicitous and discriminatory WPBR pay scheme which cheated the council's largely female workforce out of its right to equal pay for over 10 years.
Glasgow - Breaking News (03/12/17)
Stefan Cross QC published a post on Facebook the other day in which he poked fun at Glasgow City Council for trying to impose a ludicrous news 'blackout' over the long awaited settlement discussions on equal pay which get underway tomorrow, as everyone knows, including the dogs on the street.
Here's what Stefan had to say about this 'Secret Squirrel' nonsense:
KEEP IT SECRET
Well folks we have our first meeting with the leader and council officials on Monday
Unfortunately the council have demanded we accept a string of totally unacceptable pre conditions at the last minute.
These include keeping everything secret including the fact that we are even having meetings.
This is just silly
Clearly we can’t and won’t give a blow by blow account of the meetings but total secrecy is just a non starter.
Now the real issue here is whether or not Glasgow is 100% committed to a negotiated settlement of all the outstanding equal pay claims.
In which case why is GCC pressing ahead with a hearing at the Court of Session on 21st December 2017 in which Glasgow is seeking 'leave to appeal' the decision that the City Council's WPBR pay arrangements are unfit for purpose.
Surely it makes no political or legal sense for SNP led Glasgow City Council to be seeking to overturn a unanimous and well reasoned decision from three senior judges at the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court?
In any event, the real test is whether Glasgow acknowledges the scale of the problem, and agrees that Glasgow's pay arrangements need to be overhauled radically.
In my view that can only be done if Glasgow commits itself wholeheartedly to a settlement process which has a clear timescale for bringing this damaging dispute to a long overdue end.
Not least because previous council administrations have spent years 'defending the indefensible' when it comes to the City Council's ill-conceived, discriminatory and unlawful pay arrangements.
Well Nicola Sturgeon certainly delivered the goods in her leader's speech to the SNP conference earlier today.
Here's what the MSP for Glasgow Southside had to say although let me add that the First Minister's words were also delivered with real passion and conviction.
Oh dear looks like our first row.
Hopefully they’ll see sense
Watch this space
The new political leadership of the City Council has consistently said 'Yes, we are' and Susan Aitken now has the backing of Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who stated recently:
"It may take us a bit of time to fix Labour’s mess, but I make this promise today.
Fix it we will.
The injustice suffered by low paid women in this city will be put right.
Equal pay for equal work, denied for too long, will be delivered by the SNP."
Fix it we will.
The injustice suffered by low paid women in this city will be put right.
Equal pay for equal work, denied for too long, will be delivered by the SNP."
Surely it makes no political or legal sense for SNP led Glasgow City Council to be seeking to overturn a unanimous and well reasoned decision from three senior judges at the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court?
In any event, the real test is whether Glasgow acknowledges the scale of the problem, and agrees that Glasgow's pay arrangements need to be overhauled radically.
In my view that can only be done if Glasgow commits itself wholeheartedly to a settlement process which has a clear timescale for bringing this damaging dispute to a long overdue end.
Not least because previous council administrations have spent years 'defending the indefensible' when it comes to the City Council's ill-conceived, discriminatory and unlawful pay arrangements.
First Minister and Equal Pay (10/10/17)
Well Nicola Sturgeon certainly delivered the goods in her leader's speech to the SNP conference earlier today.
Here's what the MSP for Glasgow Southside had to say although let me add that the First Minister's words were also delivered with real passion and conviction.
"For decades, Glasgow has been run by Labour.
In May, that came to an end.
The cronies and time-servers are out.
Fresh ideas, Susan Aitken and the SNP are in.
The difference is already clear.Under Labour, a bitter school janitor dispute rumbled on for months.
I happen to be near a TV this afternoon so I am going to listen to Nicola Sturgeon's speech to the SNP's 2017 annual conference which is being held in Glasgow - the First Minister's political backyard.
No doubt this will be a wide ranging speech, but I will be interested to hear if the First Minister mentions the fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council which has been raging for the past 10 years.
I certainly hope the issue comes up because Glasgow is the First Minister's political backyard and if you ask me, the thousands of low paid women council workers who have been cheated and robbed of their rights for years deserve the active support of their local MSPs and MPs.
First Minister and Equal Pay (07/10/17)
I've had lots of feedback to my recent posts about the First Minister and equal pay - here are just a few examples.
"Tweet sent"
"I sent Nicola Sturgeon an email and a group of us are going to ask her for a meeting"
"I’ve already sent one to her last month and the reply I got was basically it’s up to individual councils how they deal with it!"
Glasgow City Council, of course, is quite entitled to ask Audit Scotland for practical assistance and presumably the Scottish Government would have no problem in supporting such a move, especially as the council is having such difficulty in getting its finger out.
So sending a message to the First Minister seems perfectly reasonable and sensible in all the circumstances, all the more so if you agree that Glasgow's behaviour over the past 10 years is a national disgrace.
And if you ask me, it's high time Glasgow's MSPs rose up and really started getting behind their local constituents in this long-running fight for equal pay.
Messaging the First Minister (06/10/17)
The SNP's 83rd annual conference gets underway this weekend at the SEC Centre in Glasgow and will hear from Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, a local Glasgow MSP for the 'Southside' constituency.
Glasgow City Council (Scotland's largest local authority) has a largely female workforce who have been cheated and robbed their rights to equal pay for years which is a national disgrace, if you ask me.
The new SNP led administration has pledged to sort this mess out, but the Council's WPBR pay arrangements are still shrouded in secrecy despite being described as 'unfit for purpose' by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.
So why not send a message to the First Minister, via email or Twitter, calling on Glasgow City Council to commit itself to openness and transparency over equal pay:
Please highlight the fight for equal pay at SNP 2017 and urge Glasgow City Council to 'come clean' over its WPBR pay scheme?
Readers can send a message to Nicola Sturgeon at the Twitter address below or via email
Twitter@NicolaSturgeon
Email
FirstMinister@gov.scot
Nicola.Sturgeon.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
As a Glasgow voter and council taxpayer I will be messaging the First Minister this weekend and I hope that lots of readers, and their families, will do so as well.
In May, that came to an end.
The cronies and time-servers are out.
Fresh ideas, Susan Aitken and the SNP are in.
The difference is already clear.Under Labour, a bitter school janitor dispute rumbled on for months.
Within weeks, it was resolved by the SNP.
For years, under Labour, women were denied the equal pay they are entitled to.
Conference
It may take us a bit of time to fix Labour’s mess, but I make this promise today.
Fix it we will.
The injustice suffered by low paid women in this city will be put right.
Equal pay for equal work, denied for too long, will be delivered by the SNP."
For years, under Labour, women were denied the equal pay they are entitled to.
Conference
It may take us a bit of time to fix Labour’s mess, but I make this promise today.
Fix it we will.
The injustice suffered by low paid women in this city will be put right.
Equal pay for equal work, denied for too long, will be delivered by the SNP."
Now it's been a long hard fight to get where we are today and, at times, it certainly did feel as if the bosses, bullies and bureaucrats would get their way.
So I won't be mothballing the A4ES campaign or standing down my blog site anytime soon because the job's not done until it's done - which means a settlement of all the outstanding equal pay claims.
Nonetheless, the First Minister's words are bold and unequivocal and for that Nicola Sturgeon, Susan Aitken and the SNP all deserve great credit.
The task now is to get down to serious negotiations on how to best deliver equal pay for work of equal value in Glasgow which was, of course, the original intention of the landmark Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement in 1999.
For this to happen City Council officials need to come clean about the WPBR pay scheme and how it has 'looked after' the interests of traditional male jobs over the past 10 years.
And if there are any 'cronies or time-servers' who are tempted to frustrate this process, my advice is to get out of the way while you still can - because the winds of change seem to be blowing through the corridors of Glasgow City Council at long last.
Glasgow and Equal Pay (10/10/17)
I happen to be near a TV this afternoon so I am going to listen to Nicola Sturgeon's speech to the SNP's 2017 annual conference which is being held in Glasgow - the First Minister's political backyard.
No doubt this will be a wide ranging speech, but I will be interested to hear if the First Minister mentions the fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council which has been raging for the past 10 years.
I certainly hope the issue comes up because Glasgow is the First Minister's political backyard and if you ask me, the thousands of low paid women council workers who have been cheated and robbed of their rights for years deserve the active support of their local MSPs and MPs.
First Minister and Equal Pay (07/10/17)
I've had lots of feedback to my recent posts about the First Minister and equal pay - here are just a few examples.
"Tweet sent"
"I sent Nicola Sturgeon an email and a group of us are going to ask her for a meeting"
"I’ve already sent one to her last month and the reply I got was basically it’s up to individual councils how they deal with it!"
"I got one saying that too ... disgrace"
Now the point of the exercise is not to make impossible or unreasonable demands of the City Council or Nicola Sturgeon, either as a Glasgow MSP or as First Minister.
Now the point of the exercise is not to make impossible or unreasonable demands of the City Council or Nicola Sturgeon, either as a Glasgow MSP or as First Minister.
But the fact of the matter is that the City Council is still refusing to come clean and explain how the interests of the bonus earning male groups were 'looked after' under the WPBR pay scheme.
And if you ask me, that's a national disgrace especially as we're talking about Scotland's largest and best resourced council which has cheated and robbed low paid women workers of their rights to equal pay for years.
No one is asking the First Minister, the Scottish Government or Glasgow MSPs to take control of the City Council - all that's being asked is that local politicians raise their voices and speak out about this terrible secrecy and refusal to shine a light on Glasgow's furtive pay arrangements.
I am absolutely prepared to accept that the new SNP led City Council is genuine about its desire to reach a negotiated settlement of the outstanding equal pay claims, but the evidence suggests that this mindset is not exactly shared by senior officials.
Individuals employees with equal pay claims going back 10 full years could ask that Audit Scotland (Scotland's public spending watchdog) gets directly involved, but this request would carry much more weight if it were supported by local councillors, MSPs, MPs, the First Minister and so on.
And if you ask me, it's high time Glasgow's MSPs rose up and really started getting behind their local constituents in this long-running fight for equal pay.
Messaging the First Minister (06/10/17)
The SNP's 83rd annual conference gets underway this weekend at the SEC Centre in Glasgow and will hear from Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, a local Glasgow MSP for the 'Southside' constituency.
Glasgow City Council (Scotland's largest local authority) has a largely female workforce who have been cheated and robbed their rights to equal pay for years which is a national disgrace, if you ask me.
The new SNP led administration has pledged to sort this mess out, but the Council's WPBR pay arrangements are still shrouded in secrecy despite being described as 'unfit for purpose' by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.
So why not send a message to the First Minister, via email or Twitter, calling on Glasgow City Council to commit itself to openness and transparency over equal pay:
Please highlight the fight for equal pay at SNP 2017 and urge Glasgow City Council to 'come clean' over its WPBR pay scheme?
Readers can send a message to Nicola Sturgeon at the Twitter address below or via email
Twitter@NicolaSturgeon
FirstMinister@gov.scot
Nicola.Sturgeon.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
As a Glasgow voter and council taxpayer I will be messaging the First Minister this weekend and I hope that lots of readers, and their families, will do so as well.
'People make Glasgow' after all and the more who get involved in this campaign the better.
