New council 'buy-out' offers
Some councils - North Ayrshire, for example - are making new 'buy-out' offers to staff in a desperate attempt to stop people from submitting fresh equal pay claims.
These new 'buy-out' offers follow exactly the same pattern as before - they are not delivering equal pay, but are based on a one-off payment and still leaves the women workers with a lower rate of pay than the men - whose earnings are protected for years to come.
The council are simply cheating people - and paying much less than their claims are really worth. How much depends on individual circumstances and the council involved, but in some cases the amount on offer represents less than 20% of the true value of people's claims - since the councils make a great saving by leaving out overtime and pension payments.
The reason for this latest panic is that the Compromise Agreements (COT3) which people were forced to sign in the first round of 'buy-out' payments were only valid for a fixed period of time. Many of these have now expired and the good news is that everyone involved can start a new equal pay claim from the expiry date onwards.
The Compromise Agreement dates vary from Council to council, but here are a some examples:
Aberdeenshire Council - January 2007
East Ayrshire Council - July 2006
East Lothian Council - July 2006
East Renfrewshire Council - July 2006
Edinburgh City Council - October 2006
Falkirk Council - December 2006
Fife Council - October 2006
Glasgow City Council - December 2005
Midlothian Council - April 2006
North Lanarkshire Council - October 2006
Renfrewshire Council - April 2006
South Ayrshire Council - May 2006
West Dunbartonshire Council - April 2006
West Lothian Council - February - 2007
The councils promised to have equal pay sorted out by these dates, but as usual failed to do what they said they would do - and as usual the unions have failed to explain what's going on to their members, or to inform them that they have fresh and substantial claims.
So, anyone who was pressurised into accepting a settlement first time around can submit a new claim from these dates - based on equal pay - not a council 'buy-out' which cheats people out of the full back pay they are entitled to receive.
These new 'buy-out' offers follow exactly the same pattern as before - they are not delivering equal pay, but are based on a one-off payment and still leaves the women workers with a lower rate of pay than the men - whose earnings are protected for years to come.
The council are simply cheating people - and paying much less than their claims are really worth. How much depends on individual circumstances and the council involved, but in some cases the amount on offer represents less than 20% of the true value of people's claims - since the councils make a great saving by leaving out overtime and pension payments.
The reason for this latest panic is that the Compromise Agreements (COT3) which people were forced to sign in the first round of 'buy-out' payments were only valid for a fixed period of time. Many of these have now expired and the good news is that everyone involved can start a new equal pay claim from the expiry date onwards.
The Compromise Agreement dates vary from Council to council, but here are a some examples:
Aberdeenshire Council - January 2007
East Ayrshire Council - July 2006
East Lothian Council - July 2006
East Renfrewshire Council - July 2006
Edinburgh City Council - October 2006
Falkirk Council - December 2006
Fife Council - October 2006
Glasgow City Council - December 2005
Midlothian Council - April 2006
North Lanarkshire Council - October 2006
Renfrewshire Council - April 2006
South Ayrshire Council - May 2006
West Dunbartonshire Council - April 2006
West Lothian Council - February - 2007
The councils promised to have equal pay sorted out by these dates, but as usual failed to do what they said they would do - and as usual the unions have failed to explain what's going on to their members, or to inform them that they have fresh and substantial claims.
So, anyone who was pressurised into accepting a settlement first time around can submit a new claim from these dates - based on equal pay - not a council 'buy-out' which cheats people out of the full back pay they are entitled to receive.
