Siren Calls - Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

Here are a few of the readers' comments I've received in response to yesterday's post about 'Siren Calls and Noises Off'.

Well said Mark and A4ES xx

T

It's really shameful to try and divide the workforce with the suggestion that some Glasgow Claimants are benefiting at the expense of others.

A

Go A4ES great advice xxxx

H

The Claimants know A4ES has been on their side from Day 1 of this fight

R 

Now the 'new faces' that have arrived on the scene in Glasgow know nothing of the agreement reached with the City Council because they were not involved in the 13 month long settlement negotiations - nor in the 10 year court battle which finally brought down the 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay scheme. 

Yet they snipe from the sidelines by suggesting that many Claimants are receiving much more than they're due while others are receiving much less.  

Which is not only ill-informed and poisonous - it's a load of old baloney from start to finish because the unspoken message is all about 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'.

 

Siren Calls and Noises Off (11/06/19)

I've been catching up with the claims being made on Facebook that the trade unions in Glasgow are to be sued for negligence over their handling of certain  members' equal pay claims.

Now who this may affect and what the basis of any action might be has never been explained and, so far at least, the 'discussion' has focused on wild stories, anonymous claims and ill-informed speculation.

So if I were a Glasgow Claimant attracted by this offer of help, I would ask some pointed questions such as:

1) What is the basis of any claim for negligence against my trade union and how do you assess my chances of success?

2) Have you previously made similar claims for negligence in the past, have any of these claims been successful and can you kindly share the details?

3) Are you advising me not to accept my offer of settlement with Glasgow City Council?

4) Are you prepared to indemnify and compensate me if the amount recovered by your organisation is worth less than my current offer of settlement from Glasgow City Council?

5) How long do you estimate the legal process will take and how do you justify such a high success fee of 20% plus VAT (or 24%) of any future settlement?  

6) Will your advice be issued to me in writing?  

7) Will this advice be issued by a fully qualified solicitor who is recognised by the Law Society of Scotland?

The reason I would ask these questions is that Action 4 Equality Scotland (A4ES) and Stefan Cross have been here before and I think it's fair to say that the position in Glasgow in 2019 is very different to what has gone in the past.

The recent settlement agreement reached with Glasgow City Council has been led by Stefan Cross and A4ES - and is not part of some old-fashioned, union stitch-up.

Sadly, it's not unusual for other organisations to turn up late in the day when all the 'heavy lifting' over equal pay has been done - claiming they will do a better job.

The thing that needs to be challenged, however, is the poisonous message criticising the agreement which has been reached and tries to sow disunity by setting one group of Claimants against another.   

Because that really is a load of old baloney.