What should the unions be doing? (1)
The unions are just as bad as the employers for failing to implement the 1999 Single Status (equal pay) agreement - this handed the initiative to the employers and put the unions on the back foot.
But instead of being straight about their failings and doing what they should have been doing 10 years ago - the unions often resort to the threat of industrial action as response to equal pay problems - which is the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Argyll & Bute have all witnessed this trade union pantomime in one form or another - with industrial being threatened or actually taken, but then fizzling out like a damp squib.
So, the first thing the unions should be doing to support their members on equal pay - is to forget any daft idea that industrial action is the solution - it's not, end of story - because strike action or the threat of strike action is a complete cop out by union bosses.
Why? Because the unions already know it won't work - all it does is cost members money they can't afford to lose and - more to the point - a call for industrial action lets the unions off the hook.
Why? Because if a strike ballot is lost or strike action just fizzles out - the union has the easy option of blaming its members for not being determined enough - for not making the sacrifices needed to make the employers think again.
What a load of old tosh!
The job of a trade union is to protect its members - not to encourage them to jump off a cliff by using tactics that don't really hurt the employer - and conveniently avoid the union (as an organisation) making any big sacrifices.
Strike action has been threatened and even used in some parts of Scotland - but it's been about as effective as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Strike action or the threat of strike action is a deliberate tactic employed by cynical union people - to avoid the hard work of campaigning and bringing about real change.
It's the hard graft of educating and organising the members that the trade unions should have been concentrating on these past 10 years - using the huge resources of the trade unions to benefit and help ordinary members.
So, what should they do now?
Watch this space
But instead of being straight about their failings and doing what they should have been doing 10 years ago - the unions often resort to the threat of industrial action as response to equal pay problems - which is the equivalent of taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.
Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Argyll & Bute have all witnessed this trade union pantomime in one form or another - with industrial being threatened or actually taken, but then fizzling out like a damp squib.
So, the first thing the unions should be doing to support their members on equal pay - is to forget any daft idea that industrial action is the solution - it's not, end of story - because strike action or the threat of strike action is a complete cop out by union bosses.
Why? Because the unions already know it won't work - all it does is cost members money they can't afford to lose and - more to the point - a call for industrial action lets the unions off the hook.
Why? Because if a strike ballot is lost or strike action just fizzles out - the union has the easy option of blaming its members for not being determined enough - for not making the sacrifices needed to make the employers think again.
What a load of old tosh!
The job of a trade union is to protect its members - not to encourage them to jump off a cliff by using tactics that don't really hurt the employer - and conveniently avoid the union (as an organisation) making any big sacrifices.
Strike action has been threatened and even used in some parts of Scotland - but it's been about as effective as an ashtray on a motorbike.
Strike action or the threat of strike action is a deliberate tactic employed by cynical union people - to avoid the hard work of campaigning and bringing about real change.
It's the hard graft of educating and organising the members that the trade unions should have been concentrating on these past 10 years - using the huge resources of the trade unions to benefit and help ordinary members.
So, what should they do now?
Watch this space
