NHS Update
Progress is still tortuously slow - the NHS employers are dragging their feet pretending they don't have the information they've been asked to provide about male comparators - by the employment tribunal.
The employers were asked back in October 2006 to provide details of all job titles and rates of pay for all NHS posts - the reason being that this would make it possible to see - at a glance - the different salaries and rates of pay that apply to different male and female jobs.
This would also allow a date for a Stage 1 hearing to be agreed - which would set in place a timetable for dealing with all the outstanding NHS cases.
At a Stage 1 hearing all the parties (the employers, trade unions, Action 4 Equality/Stefan Cross) would be required to spell out exactly where they stand in relation to Agenda for Change.
The NHS employers say Agenda for Change is not discriminatory and - surprise, surprise - the trade unions (Unison and GMB - the RCN is not pursuing any equal pay claims) agree with their chums on the employers' side.
Only Action 4 Equality/Stefan Cross are arguing that Agenda for Change is being implemented in a discriminatory manner - that it is reinforcing significant and unjustified pay differences between male and female jobs.
And only Action 4 Equality/Stefan Cross are arguing that the tribunal should move as quickly as possible to a Stage 1 hearing - so that these issues can be put to the test.
The trade unions on the other hand have again agreed to give the employers more time to produce information they were originally asked for some 8 months ago.
Now this is all the more ludicrous when you realise that the trade unions have had easy access to these details all along. The trade unions negotiated the pre-Agenda for Change salaries and rates of pay - so they know fine well what different jobs were paid in the past.
And, of course, the unions are now responsible for jointly agreeing the post-Agenda for Change bandings and grades - so they know the new salaries and rates of pay that are currently in operation as well.
So, this charade of asking the NHS employers for information that the trade unions already have access to is simply a delaying tactic and an extraordinary waste of everyone's time.
Another case management hearing has been set for 2 July 2007 - and soon the tribunal will have no option but to get down to brass tacks.
Frustrating as it is, the employers and the trade unions are both being dragged - albeit kicking and screaming - to a Stage 1 hearing - a day they are desperate to delay, but ultimately one they cannot avoid.
Coming soon ...Why Agenda for Change is unfair and discriminatory...watch this space!
