A Case Study
Home Care Coordinators play a vital role in delivering essential support services to thousands of elderly and vulnerable clients in Glasgow.
The job was created several years ago to support the role of the Home Carer. Coordinators have all the necessary hands on skills, but also supervise groups of Home Carers and provide much needed practical help in resolving many of the 101 things that can go wrong in the course of a normal working day.
For taking on these additional responsibilities Home Care Coordinators were paid the princely sum of £1 an hour extra on top of the rate paid to Home Carers - and both were hugely underpaid in comparison to many unskilled male workers in Glasgow earning more than £10 per hour - while the Home Carers and Coordinators hourly rates were nearer £6 and £7 respectively.
No one pointed out this blatant and completely unjustified discrimination out to the women workers, of course. Not the Labour council - and not the GMB union which negotiated these rates of pay for both male and female workers. So, ignorance of what was going on cannot possibly be argued on behalf the unions, though this does beg the obvious question:
What were the women members paying their union contributions for during all that time?
In 2005, when Action 4 Equality came along and explained things to the women workers - all hell broke loose, so to speak. The council and the unions blamed each other, but the bottom line was they would put things right and ensure that in future all jobs were paid on a fair and proper basis - discrimination would be a thing of the past.
However, they said exactly the same thing in 1999 - and then just sat on their backsides for the next six years.
Glasgow City Council has now carried out a Job Evaluation exercise (which they call a Pay and Benefits Review), but significantly this is not the one that Glasgow and all the other council employers agreed to use as part of the original 1999 Single Status Agreement.
In fact, Glasgow has just gone off and made up its very own Job Evaluation scheme, on the back of a old fag packet it would appear, since the scheme is full of problems and pay discrimination is as rife as ever.
Home Care Coordinators, for example, have been put on exactly the same grade and rate of pay as the Home Carers - so their additional supervisory responsibilities have not been taken into account, and their pay is the same as the people they supervise!
The plain truth is that Glasgow's Job Evaluation scheme has deliberately failed to assess a vital part of these jobs - as if the supervisory element never existed at all. This would never happen to one of the traditional male dominated jobs, which have all been treated very differently.
The council is now apparently saying to the Home Care Coordinators - take it or leave it! - which sounds very much like an organisation that needs to get in touch with its feminine side. The craven GMB does not have very much to say for itself, but the union knows fine well that male jobs elsewhere in the council have not been dealt with in this way.
The good news is that the Home Care Coordinators don't need to rely on the council or the unions doing the right thing - they haven't for years, so why would they start now? The best response is for people to:
Before the council's pay and benefits review lots of unskilled male workers in Glasgow were paid over £10 per hour or @ £20,000 a year - while the women's jobs were typically paid around £6 or £7 per hour or @ £15,000 a year.
After the council's pay and benefits review the position is just the same - jobs done traditionally by women are still at the bottom of the heap, traditonal male jobs are still much better paid (over £10 per hour or @ £20,000 a year) and this situation will continue for years to come!
Home Carers, Residential Carers, Cooks, Catering Assistants, Cleaners, Clerical Workers, Pupil Support Assistants, Child Development Officers (Nursery Nurses) - all continue to have substantial claims for equal pay with the men.
The job was created several years ago to support the role of the Home Carer. Coordinators have all the necessary hands on skills, but also supervise groups of Home Carers and provide much needed practical help in resolving many of the 101 things that can go wrong in the course of a normal working day.
For taking on these additional responsibilities Home Care Coordinators were paid the princely sum of £1 an hour extra on top of the rate paid to Home Carers - and both were hugely underpaid in comparison to many unskilled male workers in Glasgow earning more than £10 per hour - while the Home Carers and Coordinators hourly rates were nearer £6 and £7 respectively.
No one pointed out this blatant and completely unjustified discrimination out to the women workers, of course. Not the Labour council - and not the GMB union which negotiated these rates of pay for both male and female workers. So, ignorance of what was going on cannot possibly be argued on behalf the unions, though this does beg the obvious question:
What were the women members paying their union contributions for during all that time?
In 2005, when Action 4 Equality came along and explained things to the women workers - all hell broke loose, so to speak. The council and the unions blamed each other, but the bottom line was they would put things right and ensure that in future all jobs were paid on a fair and proper basis - discrimination would be a thing of the past.
However, they said exactly the same thing in 1999 - and then just sat on their backsides for the next six years.
Glasgow City Council has now carried out a Job Evaluation exercise (which they call a Pay and Benefits Review), but significantly this is not the one that Glasgow and all the other council employers agreed to use as part of the original 1999 Single Status Agreement.
In fact, Glasgow has just gone off and made up its very own Job Evaluation scheme, on the back of a old fag packet it would appear, since the scheme is full of problems and pay discrimination is as rife as ever.
Home Care Coordinators, for example, have been put on exactly the same grade and rate of pay as the Home Carers - so their additional supervisory responsibilities have not been taken into account, and their pay is the same as the people they supervise!
The plain truth is that Glasgow's Job Evaluation scheme has deliberately failed to assess a vital part of these jobs - as if the supervisory element never existed at all. This would never happen to one of the traditional male dominated jobs, which have all been treated very differently.
The council is now apparently saying to the Home Care Coordinators - take it or leave it! - which sounds very much like an organisation that needs to get in touch with its feminine side. The craven GMB does not have very much to say for itself, but the union knows fine well that male jobs elsewhere in the council have not been dealt with in this way.
The good news is that the Home Care Coordinators don't need to rely on the council or the unions doing the right thing - they haven't for years, so why would they start now? The best response is for people to:
- Keep doing the job the way it has been done for years
- Submit a local job evaluation appeal
- Pursue an equal pay claim, if you haven't done so already
- Register a separate claim about the union's failure to advise or represent you properly
Before the council's pay and benefits review lots of unskilled male workers in Glasgow were paid over £10 per hour or @ £20,000 a year - while the women's jobs were typically paid around £6 or £7 per hour or @ £15,000 a year.
After the council's pay and benefits review the position is just the same - jobs done traditionally by women are still at the bottom of the heap, traditonal male jobs are still much better paid (over £10 per hour or @ £20,000 a year) and this situation will continue for years to come!
Home Carers, Residential Carers, Cooks, Catering Assistants, Cleaners, Clerical Workers, Pupil Support Assistants, Child Development Officers (Nursery Nurses) - all continue to have substantial claims for equal pay with the men.
