Frequently asked questions (FAQ's) - 2
Can I sue the trade unions?
Yes, if you are a trade union member - you must also be pursuing a claim against your employer as well. The reason being that the unions deliberately kept their members in the dark over equal pay for many years - and when the going got rough, they often sided with the council employers and helped to cheat their own members out of the back pay they were entitled to receive.
How much is a claim against my unions worth?
It depends on individual circumstances and how the trade union behaved. For example, an employee in Glasgow City Council who accepted a one-off cash payment of £8,000 - would now have a claim worth over £30,000. So, that individual would have a claim for all the money they lost - £22,000 and rising all the time - because of the union's awful advice or its failure to give any advice at all.
What is a comparator?
A comparator is another worker on the same or a lower grade than you - but who is being paid more than you - despite the fact that the difference in pay (between the two jobs) seems difficult or impossible to justify. The underlying equal pay principle is that differences in pay between jobs must reflect real differences in skills and responsibilities of those jobs. Put simply, how can a carer be worth thousands of pounds a year less than a refuse worker? In some cases, people's grades are not the benchmark being used, but whether women workers are doing work of equal value to the higher paid men - this is the case for lots of nursery nurses (child development officers) and clerical workers, for example
How big is the pay gap?
This varies from council to council, and job to job. But a typical Home Carer's pay (on full-time hours) would have been £12,500 a year - yet a male refuse driver could be earning £18,000 to £20,000 a year - so the pay gap in this case could amount to over £7,000 a year. Likewise, a Nursery Nurse (Child Development Officer in some areas) earns around £18,000 a year - while a council joiner or plumber earns about £25,000 a year. Despite the fact that a nursery nurse is so much better qualified and has more responsible job!
Yes, if you are a trade union member - you must also be pursuing a claim against your employer as well. The reason being that the unions deliberately kept their members in the dark over equal pay for many years - and when the going got rough, they often sided with the council employers and helped to cheat their own members out of the back pay they were entitled to receive.
How much is a claim against my unions worth?
It depends on individual circumstances and how the trade union behaved. For example, an employee in Glasgow City Council who accepted a one-off cash payment of £8,000 - would now have a claim worth over £30,000. So, that individual would have a claim for all the money they lost - £22,000 and rising all the time - because of the union's awful advice or its failure to give any advice at all.
What is a comparator?
A comparator is another worker on the same or a lower grade than you - but who is being paid more than you - despite the fact that the difference in pay (between the two jobs) seems difficult or impossible to justify. The underlying equal pay principle is that differences in pay between jobs must reflect real differences in skills and responsibilities of those jobs. Put simply, how can a carer be worth thousands of pounds a year less than a refuse worker? In some cases, people's grades are not the benchmark being used, but whether women workers are doing work of equal value to the higher paid men - this is the case for lots of nursery nurses (child development officers) and clerical workers, for example
How big is the pay gap?
This varies from council to council, and job to job. But a typical Home Carer's pay (on full-time hours) would have been £12,500 a year - yet a male refuse driver could be earning £18,000 to £20,000 a year - so the pay gap in this case could amount to over £7,000 a year. Likewise, a Nursery Nurse (Child Development Officer in some areas) earns around £18,000 a year - while a council joiner or plumber earns about £25,000 a year. Despite the fact that a nursery nurse is so much better qualified and has more responsible job!
