Glasgow - Incorrect, Partial and Misleading

Here's a letter from an Glasgow councillor which claims, amongst other things, that "many (equal pay) comparators have been accepted and others will be negotiated".

Now these words are attributed by Councillor Ballantyne to the Council Leader Susan Aitken which is very odd because it's completely untrue to say that any of the comparators have been agreed.

Comparators are just one part of a complex equal pay jigsaw which requires lots of other factors to be taken into account before any final agreement can be reached - such as the level of NSWP payments, for example.

The Claimants Side put forward comparator proposals months ago, back in May, covering all claimant jobs but the majority have still to receive any response from the Council - including the proposed comparators for the Home Carers and other large claimant groups.

The factual position is that serious negotiations over male comparators have not even begun and after all this time the ball is still stuck in the Council's court which is why all the cases are going back to the Employment Tribunal and why Glasgow City Council is facing the first equal pay strike in the history of Scottish local government.   

So it's completely ludicrous to say that:

"Effective action from the unions over the past 12 years could have resolved this issue and questions must be raised here." 

The issue of comparators could and should have been resolved months (not years) ago, but this can only be achieved if both sides get down to 'brass tacks' and so far the Council has refused to do what it promised to do months ago.

I will pass a copy of this blog post on to Cllr Ballantyne, but I presume this briefing information is coming directly from the Council's chief executive's office which is worrying - because it is incorrect, partial and deliberately misleading.