Glasgow's Fight for Equal Pay (2)



I've dealt with lots of politicians and political parties in my time and a 'brass neck' often goes with the territory - here's a good example with the SNP claiming all the credit for delivering equal pay in Glasgow City Council.

Now certain SNP figures, notably Susan Aitken, did play a positive role and I've made a point of saying so in my blog posts over the years.

The problem with the SNP's 'community update' is that it is totally one-sided and airbrushes everyone else out of history including:
  • The Glasgow Claimants themselves many of whom have been fighting for their rights to equal pay since 2005
  • The landmark victory at the Court of Session in August 2017 which judged Glasgow's WPBR pay scheme to be 'unfit for purpose'
  • The appeal from Glasgow City Council in December 2017 in an effort to overturn the WPBR 'unfit for purpose' decision
  • The Claimants campaign to persuade the Council to abandon and replace the WPBR which it finally agreed to in June 2017
  • The Claimants campaign through 2018 for GCC to 'get serious' and enter into meaningful settlement negotiations 
  • The historic strike by 8,000 of the GCC's lowest paid workers in support of their right to equal pay 
  • The crucial role played by Stefan Cross and Action 4 Equality Scotland 
  • The crucial role played by the GMB and Unison trade unions
But never fear readers, because I am now in the process of finalising my own thoughts on the long fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council which should be published on the blog in the next few days.     


  



Glasgow's Fight for Equal Pay (29/03/19)



Regular readers will be interested to learn that it was really the SNP 'wot won' the fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council!

Tune in again soon to read about all the people, events and organisations who have been quietly airbrushed out of history - and who don't even rate a mention in this latest SNP 'community update'.

  


No 'I' in Team (26/03/19)



I've been following the Facebook comments on the now infamous equal pay award presented to Glasgow City Council's Lord Provost by the Evening Times.

Now the debate ranges from 'the Council can keep the award and stick it where the sun don't shine' to 'what a cheek the Council has holding on to something that really belongs to the Claimants'.

I can see both points of view, I have to admit, but there is an obvious issue about what to do with the award if the Claimants decide that they want to wrest it back from the Council.

Maybe the thing to do would be to give it to the Glasgow Women's Library and ask if they'll put it on display along with an explanation about the way in which the award was presented and why this has caused so much controversy?

Because people are understandably unhappy at the way the Evening Times went about things and it obviously does look terribly patronising for the Council's Lord Provost to accept an award that was really intended to recognise the spirit and determination of thousands of low paid Glasgow equal pay Claimants.     

  


Team Glasgow (21/03/19)


I enjoyed the latest pithy comments on Glasgow's equal pay 'team award' which I'm told is squirrelled away somewhere inside the marbled halls of Glasgow City Chambers. 

Now I agree with the general mood of the Claimants - the Council can keep the trophy because the way the award was organised and presented has left a bad taste in many people's mouths.

And it's worth recalling that the Council hasn't always thought of itself as being on the same side or same 'team' as the Claimants. 
For example, who remembers the Council's attempt to undermine last years historic equal pay strike in Glasgow with lurid headlines in the Evening Times about lives being put at risk?

More to follow on this subject tomorrow - so watch this space.



Just walk in and ask for it. Doesn’t belong to anyone in there. Plus we don’t need a trophy to show we won what everyone worked so hard for equality. 👍x

V

So true hen let them keep it xx

F

History will show who won the award so let them keep it x

E

They'll do a Documentary down the line about equality and Glasgow equal pay fight will be in the forefront. That'll mean more to us than a 'Trophy/ Award'.

C

Let them keep it cos ever time they pass bye it will remind them who won

D


It would be nice to see it or maybe walk into the chambers and say to them we want to see our trophy please 😂 😆 😝😂

E


They can stick it where the sun don't shine 😁🌞

Y

bet she has it on her mantle piece

L

Its currently at the engravers getting her name put on it lol 🤣🤣

A

All trying to jump on the band wagon where was she on the days of our strike I don't remember seeing her ...we know who the real stars are and its defo not her

L


  

Glasgow's Trophy Hunters (20/03/19)



Great news for trophy hunters in Glasgow!

I have it on very good authority that the Evening Times equal pay award (see posts below) is squirrelled away somewhere inside Glasgow City Chambers, presumably gathering dust.

Now it would be obviously be possible for the Claimants to mount a campaign to have the Award put on public display so that people can see for themselves if the trophy lives up to its billing.

Maybe it would even be possible for Claimants to take the equal pay award home for a week so they can show it off to family, friends and neighbours?

The bad news is that with around 14,000 Claimants in Glasgow it will unfortunately take the best part of 270 years to get to the back of the queue.   

  

Patronising Claptrap 2 (19/03/19)



A Facebook reader posed an interesting question yesterday about the Evening Times equal pay award which was presented to the Lord Provost of Glasgow City Council last week

"Who has Glasgow's Equal Pay Award - and is it in the City Chambers?"

I have to admit that I don't know - I don't even know what the award is although judging from the photo below it looks like one of these 'plasticated' thingamajigs you sometimes see displayed on people's mantelpieces.

Who knows, maybe the award is in the Lord Provost's or the chief executive's office - or maybe there are plans to put the award on public display.

In any event I think Glasgow's Claimants deserve better than just being kept in the dark.  



  



Patronising Presentation (18/0319)



Well the Evening Times certainly stirred up a hornet's nest with its bizarre decision to present a special Equal Pay 'team award' to the Lord Provost of Glasgow City City Council last week.  

Here are some more Facebook and Twitter comments which highlight why this was a really dumb, insulting  idea.

Working class women in Glasgow are airbrushed from history. As an equality award is presented to the @LordProvostGCC in their name at an event they weren’t invited to, for a campaign the fought and won. #SWOTY #EqualPayGlasgow


J

We think it is absolutely shocking that the paper handed this award to the employer. 8000 women went on strike to fight for what they were due and they are being airbrushed out of their own fight. The Lord Provost cannot collect an award *on behalf* of our members.

Glasgow GMB

Be ashamed Glasgow City Council + Evening Times Colluders

S

Where was the Lord Provost on our march for equal pay?

F


M

Well said Mark x

T


Thanx mark had to be told shocking

E

It’s a nice gesture that this award is in recognition of all of us .. we ARE deserving of it after the battle we’ve just had ..(not to mention the wages etc that some of us lost !)
The recipient of it was a strange choice, wonder who chose her to accept it?
BUT well done everyone who participated in the battle men included, we don’t need an Evening Times Award to be proud of ourselves though!!

C

This is absolutely disgusting
This woman had nothing to do with this
Feel almost sick

SAnything for a free night out !!

M

Complain to Evening Times !!! I did

M

Why did she agree to accept it in the first place when she did not even attend any of the rallys or take anything to do with the equal pay?

L
All trying to jump on the band wagon where was she on the days of our strike I don't remember seeing her ...we know who the real stars are and its defo not her

LS

I'm with you S - she done sod all to help us. Totally disgusting and why did Evening Times allow her to collect it?

S

This is quite something. The dispute in question was won by 8000 women going on strike AGAINST the council. The paper in question ran a front page implying those women were endangering vulnerable people by doing so. Plaudits off the back of erasing working class women, again.

E

We never voted for her we voted for Frances Mowat Stojilkovic for this award I’m raging that’s she has taken the glory 

M

Why she wasn’t embarrassed to accept that award on our behalf I will never know

D

Shocking she actually had the brass neck to actually accept this disgusting 😡

K

If you ask me, the Evening Times has shot itself in the foot by presenting this award to a representative of the City Council. 

Yet it could all have been so different had the newspaper bothered to consult Glasgow's Equal Pay Claimants and their representatives - A4ES, GMB and Unison.

After all the Lord Provost didn't turn up to collect the award by accident it's pretty obvious that there had to be some prior discussion and careful planning involved. 

  

Patronising Claptrap! (15/03/19)



The Evening Times had a special editor's award at its SWOTY 2018 event last night which was collected by the City Council's Lord Provost on behalf of 'all the women involved' in Glasgow's historic fight for equal pay.

Now I have nothing against Councillor Bolander, but if this award was intended to recognise the determination of the Glasgow Claimants, how difficult would it have been to organise a group of Glasgow's equal pay campaigners to be present on the night?

Frances Stojilkovic springs to mind, for obvious reasons and there are many others to mention in dispatches as well including: Shona Thomson, Jennifer McCarey, Rhea Wolfson and Hazel Nolan - to name just a few.

So the way the newspaper has gone about this seems extremely patronising if you ask me, since any 'team award' should have been presented to a group representing the Claimants - not someone representing the same Council employer which the Claimants had to battle for years.

And here are some of the early comments I've read via Facebook which seem to agree! 

Don’t remember the lord provost on any of our marches .. what a hypocrite.. and it only took her 13yrs to twig on we are deserving 


M

Where was she during our strike? Did she send a message of solidarity to support us? I never even heard of her!!!....

D

She was the one driving the Roller!

M

What a bloody cheek ! There should’ve been only one person picking up that award and we all know it should’ve been Frances Mowat Stojilkovic!


E

What a bloody cheek 

R

Absolute cheek crawling out the woodwork to collect this , only one person deserves this and that's Frances Mowat Stojilkovic, what a brass neck

I

Big Joke x 

L

Shocking we all know who should have picked up this award Frances Mowat Stojilkovic

M

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