Ghosts of Christmas Past

The Ghosts of Christmas Past are about to pay a visit to Glasgow City Council - and there's no doubt who's being cast in the role of Scrooge!

Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross are about to challenge the Compromise Agreement that around 12,000 employees were forced to sign in 2005 - just to get their hands on their own money. The council described this at the time as a one-off compensation payment, but now their bad behaviour is coming back to haunt them.

In the run up to Christmas 2005 - the timing being very deliberate, of course - council employees were put under enormous pressure to sign this legal document known as a Compromise Agreement.

The 'agreement', in our view, was a very one-sided affair and not a real meeting of the minds - because the people forced to sign it could not appreciate the significance of what they were doing - without proper advice and support.

So, many of the council's lowest paid employees lost thousands of pounds in the process - some well over £10,000!

At the time desperate people did desperate things because:

1 The council refused to explain what individual claims were really worth
2 The trade unions did the council's 'dirty work' - encouraging their members to accept these very low settlements
3 Acceptance meetings had highly paid lawyers in attendance - paid for by the council - but in many cases low paid council workers received no practical advice or help

Shame on them all. But the good news is that you can now challenge what happened in 2005. Glasgow Council employees can make a fresh claim and potentially recover the thousands of pounds that many people lost.

The unions refuse to fight for their members on this issue - no doubt because they're embarrassed by their spineless behaviour when they stood aside two years ago and let their members fend for themselves. Bah humbug!

But Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross will - and a new claim will also cover the period from April 2006 onwards - because the council continues to protect the higher pay of traditional male jobs. So, if you or your friends lost out in Christmas 2005 - the message from Action 4 Equality is:

Don't get mad, get even - join the fightback today!

More information on Glasgow to follow soon - meantime if you need an application form, leave you name and contact details on 0131 667 7956 or send them by e-mail to: markirvine@compuserve.com