Happy New Year!
A Happy New Year to all our readers - and all the very best to you and yours for 2010!
Hard to believe, I know - but Action 4 Equality Scotland was officially launched 5 years ago - on Monday 16 August 2005 - via the lead evening news item on the BBC's Reporting Scotland programme.
The next day just about every Scottish daily newspaper covered our plans - to breathe new life into the fight for equal pay - forcing the issue out of the doldrums and on to the front page.
And the rest is history - as they say - because we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams - suddenly equal pay was back at the top of the news agenda.
But until Action 4 Equality Scotland and Stefan Cross came along - equal pay was dead in the water - the employers and trade unions were both happy to turn a blind eye to widespread pay discrimination in the shape of a 'male only' bonus culture.
Having promised a new deal under Single Status - the employers and unions simply failed to deliver the goods - and incredibly this was allowed to happen at a time of relative plenty - when council budgets were literally doubling in size.
Years earlier everyone had agreed that many women's jobs were significantly undervalued and underpaid - after all that was the reason for the landmark 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement.
Yet when the chips were down - cosy relations between employers and unions - came before doing the right thing by ordinary union members - and the status quo prevailed until 16 August 2005.
2010 promises to be another eventful and exciting year - Action 4 Equality Scotland has important news to report on a number of fronts - so watch this space for further details.
Hard to believe, I know - but Action 4 Equality Scotland was officially launched 5 years ago - on Monday 16 August 2005 - via the lead evening news item on the BBC's Reporting Scotland programme.
The next day just about every Scottish daily newspaper covered our plans - to breathe new life into the fight for equal pay - forcing the issue out of the doldrums and on to the front page.
And the rest is history - as they say - because we succeeded beyond our wildest dreams - suddenly equal pay was back at the top of the news agenda.
But until Action 4 Equality Scotland and Stefan Cross came along - equal pay was dead in the water - the employers and trade unions were both happy to turn a blind eye to widespread pay discrimination in the shape of a 'male only' bonus culture.
Having promised a new deal under Single Status - the employers and unions simply failed to deliver the goods - and incredibly this was allowed to happen at a time of relative plenty - when council budgets were literally doubling in size.
Years earlier everyone had agreed that many women's jobs were significantly undervalued and underpaid - after all that was the reason for the landmark 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement.
Yet when the chips were down - cosy relations between employers and unions - came before doing the right thing by ordinary union members - and the status quo prevailed until 16 August 2005.
2010 promises to be another eventful and exciting year - Action 4 Equality Scotland has important news to report on a number of fronts - so watch this space for further details.
