Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Unison is currently balloting members in Scotland over plans to strike in support of a pay claim - union leaders having already rejected a 2.5% offer from the employers - for each of the next three years. Meanwhile, the pay campaign has delivered a nightmare result south of the border - as Unison members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland voted to support industrial action by a narrow margin of 55% to 45%. But what the Unison press statement fails to mention - surprise, surprise - is the low turnout of only 27%. So almost three quarters of the members didn't even bother to vote - out of the total local government membership of 600,00. But, the key point is that less than 90,000 members have voted in favour of industrial action - with over 500,000 (85%) voting against or voting with their feet by not taking part. I n other walks of life this would rightly be seen as the tail wagging the dog - as opposed to a mandate for manning the barricades. Back in Scotland, nerves are frayin...

Jim Devine - the MP for Livingston - has thrown his weight behind our efforts to get West Lothian Council to face up to its responsibilities on equal pay. Jim is urging the council - in parliamentary language, of course - to get its finger out and settle all the outstanding equal pay claims. Speaking recently, Jim said: "Female dominated fields of employment such as Home Caring have long been undervalued. However, ten years on from the landmark Single Status agreement, some workers are still discriminated against and nearly 300 cases with West Lothian Council are still outstanding". "West Lothian Council should either defend these cases in Employment Tribunals or reach a negotiated settlement as councils in Glasgow and Edinburgh have". "I would urge the Council to bring matters to a head as soon as possible. The present situation is not good for staff morale and should not be allowed to continue" So, there you are - an MP who has come off the fence, stood ...

We regularly receive enquiries from clients about union advice and representation - because the unions sometimes behave very badly when members vote with their feet - by pursuing an equal pay claim with Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross. Now a certain amount of churlishness is only human - because union noses are seriously out of joint and - like anyone else - they don't like being shown up in a bad light. But sometimes local union reps take things too far - they become vindictive and try to make life difficult - by telling their members that they won't be entitled to any advice or representation - even on matters completely unrelated to equal pay - if they take up with Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross. If that happens, the union people concerned are overstepping the mark - big time - because members are entitled to advice and representation under union rule - and these rights can't be withdrawn in an arbitrary way by some branch official who's in a giant huff. So, i...

Scotland's NHS claims were discussed at a case management hearing in Edinburgh on 20 May 2008 - there's nothing of substance to report from that meeting as it focused on various ongoing administrative issues. More significant is the news that the long awaited test case for all NHS cases has now been set - this has been scheduled for the beginning of October 2008 in Newcastle and is likely to last for 6 weeks. Stefan Cross and Action 4 Equality are essentially challenging the new NHS pay and grading structures - because we believe that Agenda for Change (AfC) has simply maintained all the old pay differentials by discriminating against many female dominated jobs. Agenda for Change is not rocket science - it's just another job evaluation scheme at the end of the day - which is UK wide in certain aspects, but local implementation has varied widely in different parts of the country. We have concerns about Agenda for Change on a number of fronts: The lack of staff input and infl...

A hearing of the North Ayrshire Council cases took place in Glasgow on 5 June - the date being re-arranged at short notice from the original one of 2 June 2008. The Employment Tribunal had previously ordered North Ayrshire to produce pay information to confirm (or otherwise) the pay gap between male and female dominated jobs - this has now been done and the data provided by the council is currently being assessed. A single GMF hearing for both the RAE (Rated as Equivalent) and EV (Equal Value) claims has now been given the green light - and a firm date will be set within the next few weeks with the hearing itself taking place sometime later in the year. Further details will follow as soon as arrangements are confirmed. We will be in touch with North Ayrshire clients separately to identify potential witnesses and clarify various issues in the run up to the GMF hearing. The onus is now on the council to justify the pay gap and - in the absence of a credible defence - the Employment Tribu...

Action 4 Equality Scotland has a new contact telephone number - the number for both existing and new clients to ring is: Action 4 Equality Scotland - 0845 300 3 800 You can leave a message on this number - either to request an application form, or to ask for a call back, if you have an enquiry about an existing equal pay claim. Telephone enquiries are welcome, but normally the Action 4 Equality Scotland blog site is the best source of information - because as soon as there are any significant developments - either locally or nationally - the key details are always posted here first. You can, as usual, raise a query and request application forms via Mark Irvine - who can be contacted at the following e-mail address: markirvine@compuserve.com

One of our Glasgow clients rang up today to double check that she still had an ongoing equal pay claim against the city council. The answer is definitely - YES! Glasgow has settled some of its equal pay claims - but only up to 1 April 2006 when the council introduced a new pay and grading structure - on the back of what was called a local Pay & Benefits Review. But as part of this package the council also agreed to protect the higher pay of traditional male (bonus earning) groups for years into the future - with the agreement and support of the trade unions. So, while the pay gap continues all of the female dominated jobs - carers, cleaners, catering staff, clerical workers and classroom assistants - continue to have an equal pay claim. If you're already a client of Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross, you don't need to do anything - your claim is still being pursued and we will let you know when there are any developments. If you accepted a 'buy out' settlement from...

Single Status is simply the name given to an important agreement from 1999 - when Scottish councils and the trade unions promised to end the distinction between 'blue collar' (Manual) workers and 'white collar' (APT&C) staff. A key part of the agreement was a commitment to sweep away years of pay discrimination against many female dominated jobs - carers, cooks, cleaners, clerical workers and classroom assistants - by introducing a modern, fit for purpose and non-discriminatory pay structure. The employers and trade unions agreed that the only way to achieve the kind of modern pay structure both sides desired - was via a new Job Evaluation (JE) scheme that gave female dominated jobs a better deal. The problem was that the council employers and the trade unions both sat on their backsides for the next 10 years - blaming each other for the lack of progress - but ultimately they failed to deliver on their promises to a largely female workforce. Equal Pay is underpinned...