Do I have an equal pay claim?

Lots of people still don't realise that they have substantial equal pay claims - equal pay is not just about manual workers - many APT&C workers have every bit as strong a case for equal pay - but the employers don't want you to know, as it will cost them money - and the unions are keen to keep people in the dark as well, otherwise their members will start asking what their contributions have been spent on all these years!

Here's a leaflet that's been prepared for Clerical Workers in Glasgow, but the same arguments apply elsewhere and for many other groups including: Classroom/Pupil Support Assistants, Nursery Nurses/Child Development Officers, Social Care Workers, School Janitors/Caretakers etc.


GLASGOW & EQUAL PAY

A message from Action 4 Equality

1. Clerical workers in Glasgow have always been highly skilled and hard working, but very low paid
2. Despite all the fine words about equal opportunities and equal pay - for many years Glasgow's clerical workers have been paid much less than unskilled male manual workers, such as refuse collectors and road sweepers
3. The council and the trade unions (Unison/GMB/TGWU) are both jointly responsible for this terrible mess although they like to point the finger at each other, instead of admitting just how much they have let people down.
4. In 1999, they agreed to sort things out for once and for all - then sat on their backsides for the next 6 years!
5. Before Glasgow's Pay and Benefits Review - many unskilled male council workers earned @ £20,000 a year
6. After Glasgow's Pay and Benefits review - many unskilled male council workers will still be earning @ £20,000 a year - and will do so for many years to come
7. Clerical workers in Glasgow always do badly out of these job evaluation exercises (in Glasgow this is being called a Pay and Benefits Review)
8. Glasgow's clerical workers have substantial equal pay claims - even after the Council's Pay and Benefits Review - which are worth up to £5,000 per year, backdated for 5 years, and for as long as the current pay discrimination lasts

The position in Glasgow is repeated across Scotland - lots of people with substantial equal pay claims have been deliberately kept in the dark by the employers - why else is a nursery nurse paid so much less than a council tradesman?

The trade unions keep quiet as well because the truth is that they have been asleep on the job - and they are now worried that their own members are holding the unions to account by suing for the money low paid union members have lost, as a result of the union's negligence and poor advice.