Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

This week’s ‘drop in’ meetings in South Lanarkshire proved to be a tremendous success – with well over 700 people attending the three Action 4 Equality Scotland events in Rutherglen, Hamilton and East Kilbride. Lots of existing clients came along for an update/progress report – with many potential new claimants present as well – so the level of interest in equal pay remains extremely high. The essential question that everyone wants an answer to is: “How does South Lanarkshire Council explain and justify the big pay differences between many male and female jobs?” Best of all, council employees gave us first hand accounts about the pay arrangements in South Lanarkshire – which we believe to be discriminatory - because these arrangements seem to favour many of the traditional male (former bonus earning) jobs. Any information that council employees can provide will be of great help in the ongoing work at the Employment Tribunals – there will be lots of activity around the South Lanarkshire

A case management discussion (CMD) on the outstanding Glasgow cases is being held on Monday 2 February 2009. The hearing is scheduled to start at 10.am and individual claimants are entitled to attend. Come to think of it, the physical presence of some claimants might actually help remind everyone involved that these claims are about real people – and their right to equal treatment under the law. If you want to go along the Glasgow CMD, it is being held at the Glasgow Employment Tribunal office which is at the following address – about 10 minutes walk from Central Station, along Bothwell Street and towards Finnieston. Glasgow ET office Eagle Building 215 Bothwell Street Glasgow G2 7TS Phone: 0141 204 0730 Fax: 0141 204 0732 Email: glasgowet@ets.gsi.gov.uk Anyone attending should make themselves known to Carol Fox who will be there on behalf of Stefan Cross Solicitors.

Glasgow’s Workforce Pay and Benefits review (WPBR) is coming under increasing scrutiny – by people inside and outside Scotland largest council. Glasgow’s WPBR is simply another name for a job evaluation (JE) scheme – bit it’s a JE scheme with a difference because Glasgow invented its own ‘home grown’ scheme – and suddenly ditched the national JE scheme which had been developed with COSLA as part of the 1999 Single Status Agreement. The trade unions also supported the national scheme – because the design of the scheme followed clear principles – and the rules about implementing the national JE scheme were based on good practice. In other words, the national scheme had been tried and tested – its key principles were clear and easily understood – and the national scheme was to be implemented in an open and transparent way. But Glasgow’s WPBR is a rather different animal – no one seems to know who designed the scheme – or how it was tested before being imposed on thousands of council staff

South Lanarkshire Council is the only council in Scotland – not to have made significant payments to its women workers over Single Status and Equal Pay. Every other council across Scotland has by now made sizeable ‘compensatory’ payments, worth thousands of pounds in many cases. Peoples’ equal pay claims are based on the big differences in pay between traditional male and female jobs. According to local council employees, the big pay differences in South Lanarkshire Council are just the same as in neighbouring councils, such as Glasgow and North Lanarkshire. Stefan Cross Solicitors are challenging the way in which the council has dealt with Single Status and Equal Pay. Around 1700 employees are currently pursuing equal pay claims against South Lanarkshire Council – many more are still entitled to make a claim – it’s not too late to do so even now. Action 4 Equality Scotland has arranged a series of ‘drop in’ meetings to report on what’s been happening at the Employment Tribunals. If yo

Question I am a home carer - I've been reading your blog site and was surprised to learn that I may have another claim - even though I accepted a previous settlement offer from Falkirk Council. Is this correct and does it make any difference that I left the council in October 2008? Answer Yes, you definitely have another claim - because the settlement you accepted from the council covered only the period up to the date of the introduction of Falkirk's new job evaluation (JE) scheme - probably sometime during 2007 or 2008. From that date onwards, you have a further claim - because the council is protecting the higher pay of the traditional male groups - and you have a claim for as long as that difference in pay continues. Aberdeen City Council, for example, is introducing new pay arrangements from 1 May 2009 - and will then protect the higher pay of the male groups until 2012. If you leave the council's employment, you have only 6 months to register a new claim - if you dela

North Lanarkshire's cases are continuing to make their way through the Employment Tribunal process – just as they are in all other councils. Progress is slower than originally anticipated because the employers are doing everything they can to delay things. But judgment day will come when councils face a GMF hearing, i.e. a defence hearing where the council has to explain and try to justify the big differences in pay between traditional male and female jobs. We are pressing the tribunals to set a GMF hearing for North Lanarkshire – as they have done for Glasgow, Fife and North Ayrshire Councils. We remain confident about the outcome – because in our view these big differences in pay simply cannot be justified – which is why some councils (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Stirling – for example) have seen the light and agreed to negotiate solution to many of their outstanding case. North Lanarkshire Council has already settled some of its claims – for cleaning and catering staff – but the other g

Stefan Cross has written to all Aberdeen clients on an individual basis - detailing his advice about the council’s decision to issue new contracts of employment. Aberdeen is not the first council to do this – it is following a well trodden path – and there is no need to be anxious or worried. The advice to clients is not to accept the new contract at this stage – this means that people will still be required to sign on 1 May 2009 (otherwise dismissal will result) – but it is better for the council to impose the new contract than for employees to accept it on a voluntary basis. No one will be disciplined or dismissed for refusing to sign – so long as the new contract is eventually accepted by the final deadline on 1 May 2009 – but by that time the council is giving its employees no choice in the matter. All that people miss out on at this stage is the Equal Pay and Modernisation (EPM) payment – but that forms part of your claim anyway – and by refusing to accept an EPM payment people wi

The CMD hearing scheduled for Monday 26 January will not be taking place and has been postponed until another date – as soon as the details are confirmed they will be published here on Action 4 Equality Scotland blog site.

Aberdeen City Council is issuing new contracts of employment to all staff – having failed to reach a collective agreement with the trade unions over Single Status and Equal Pay. The council says that it can’t achieve a collective agreement because of recent case law – i.e. the Allen V GMB case where low paid GMB members successfully sued their own union. But the council is wrong – the Allen v GMB case does not stop trade unions negotiating collective agreements – all it does is prevent them from negotiating deals that discriminate against their own women members. So, Aberdeen is now pursuing a voluntary sign up campaign - staff are being asked to accept new contracts on a voluntary basis by 30 January 2009 - those that do so will receive an incentive Equal Pay and Modernisation (EPM) payment. Details of the EPM payment will be estimated and issued to staff along with their new contracts in January - and the new contracts are due to take effect on 1 May 2009 Staff who do not accept the

In December we reported on a significant development regarding NHS equal pay claims – see post dated 20 December 2008. The Potter case is very important to all NHS claimants – and the background to this case is explained below. Prior to the introduction of Agenda for Change in 2004, the NHS pay negotiating structure was divided along gender lines under the Whitley Council system. Male dominated jobs were subject to one negotiating process - whereas the terms and conditions of female dominated professions (nurses, physiotherapist, medical secretaries etc) were regulated by a different process altogether. While the collective bargaining processes operated in parallel - no real attention being was being paid as to whether women and men were being treated fairly. Unsurprisingly, huge differences in pay and pay practices evolved over the years – ending up in the crazy position whereby NHS tradesmen (painters and plumbers, for example) were being paid more than highly trained nurses. In rece

Stefan Cross has written to clients in Fife Council - because employees in Fife may be able to challenge the Compromise Agreements that people were required to sign in 2006 - before the council released their equal pay 'compensation' payments. Please see previous posts on this issue - including the one dated 1 October 2008. The feedback from many employees in Fife is that they were not given a proper standard of advice from the 'independent' lawyers who signed their Compromise Agreements. Many people in Fife say: 1 That their interview with the council appointed lawyer lasted only a few minutes 2 That their lawyer could not explain the basis of the council's proposed settlement 3 That their lawyer did not offer any practical advice about the risk of pursuing a claim to the employment tribunals or the value of the claims Fife Council has already confirmed that senior managers appointed a single legal firm to advise council staff. Quite how the council went about this

A Pre-Hearing Review (PHR) involving South Lanarkshire Council was scheduled to start on Monday 12 January 2009. The PHR has been postponed and instead there will now be a Case Management Discussion (CMD) on that day - followed by a further CMD on Monday 26 January 2009. Stefan Cross Solicitors has now instructed an Equal Pay Expert to consider South Lanarkshire's job evaluation (JE) scheme. We have reported previously on the various deficiencies that we see in the JE scheme - and its failure to address the big pay differences between traditional male and female jobs. South Lanarkshire Council is still refusing to release crucial pay information - of the kind that every other council in Scotland was required to divulge long ago - their reluctance to be open and transparent suggests that the council has got a lot to hide. Individual claimants are entitled to attend the CMD hearings - both of which are being held at the Employment Tribunal offices in Glasgow. The CMD on 12 January st

First of all a Happy New Year - and all the very best for 2009! Last year was a hard slog for everyone still fighting for equal pay – with councils across Scotland using large sums of public money to delay and frustrate the employment tribunal process. But the good news is that increasingly in 2009 the employers will have to face up to the real issues about equal pay. Regular readers of the Action 4 Equality Scotland blog site will know what a GMF (Genuine Material Factor) hearing is all about. Don’t be bamboozled by the legal jargon - it’s simply the formal ‘defence’ hearing where employers must explain and try to justify the big differences in pay between traditional male and female jobs. GMF hearings are what the council employers have been desperately trying to avoid for all this time – so it’s encouraging to be able to announce that 3 major hearings are set already for 2009. Glasgow City Council 16th March – 27th March 2009 Fife Council 30th March -3rd April and 20th April - 22nd