More Questions Than Answers
Scottish Labour leader - Iain Gray - has announced his support for the policy of a £7.00 an hour 'living wage'.
Now this sounds suspiciously like the same policy announced by former Glasgow City Council leader - Stephen Purcell - at the Scottish Labour Party Conference in March 2009.
But what does it mean - does it mean that the Scottish Labour leader now accepts that many women's jobs in the public services - have been undervalued and underpaid for years?
If so, where has he been all this time - when the fight for equal pay has been the single biggest issue facing councils in Scotland - many of them Labour controlled?
If we assume that Iain Gray is a new convert to the cause of equal pay - presumably we can also assume that he supports thousands of women workers being compensated properly - for the losses they've incurred over the years.
Because for many years traditional male jobs - such as refuse workers, gravediggers and gardeners - have been paid a great deal more than £7.00 an hour - £9.00 or £10.00 an hour in some cases.
Yet, their female counterparts - Home Carers, Cooks, Classroom Assistants, Clerical Workers and Cleaners - have been getting paid a lot less - in some cases only £6.00 an hour.
So, what is this new Labour policy all about - does it apply in South Lanarkshire Council, for example - where there has been no settlement of equal pay claims - and where the unions are not fighting a single case?
The unions have been quick to welcome the announcement - but of course these are the same unions who turned a blind eye to the problem for years.
In fact the unions kept women workers deliberately in the dark - about the big differences in pay between male and female jobs.
What Iain Gray has still to explain is how this scheme would work and what it will cost - how many jobs will benefit and will a new Labour government at Holyrood provide the funds required?
Precisely how will it be implemented - given Scottish councils have already set a 0.65% pay increase for this year - and a zero (0) % increase for the following two years?
So many questions and so few answers.
But it's a safe bet that people will be mightily unimpressed - if Iain Gray's statement turns out to be no more than cynical electioneering - with an eye on next year's elections to the Scottish Parliament.
Now this sounds suspiciously like the same policy announced by former Glasgow City Council leader - Stephen Purcell - at the Scottish Labour Party Conference in March 2009.
But what does it mean - does it mean that the Scottish Labour leader now accepts that many women's jobs in the public services - have been undervalued and underpaid for years?
If so, where has he been all this time - when the fight for equal pay has been the single biggest issue facing councils in Scotland - many of them Labour controlled?
If we assume that Iain Gray is a new convert to the cause of equal pay - presumably we can also assume that he supports thousands of women workers being compensated properly - for the losses they've incurred over the years.
Because for many years traditional male jobs - such as refuse workers, gravediggers and gardeners - have been paid a great deal more than £7.00 an hour - £9.00 or £10.00 an hour in some cases.
Yet, their female counterparts - Home Carers, Cooks, Classroom Assistants, Clerical Workers and Cleaners - have been getting paid a lot less - in some cases only £6.00 an hour.
So, what is this new Labour policy all about - does it apply in South Lanarkshire Council, for example - where there has been no settlement of equal pay claims - and where the unions are not fighting a single case?
The unions have been quick to welcome the announcement - but of course these are the same unions who turned a blind eye to the problem for years.
In fact the unions kept women workers deliberately in the dark - about the big differences in pay between male and female jobs.
What Iain Gray has still to explain is how this scheme would work and what it will cost - how many jobs will benefit and will a new Labour government at Holyrood provide the funds required?
Precisely how will it be implemented - given Scottish councils have already set a 0.65% pay increase for this year - and a zero (0) % increase for the following two years?
So many questions and so few answers.
But it's a safe bet that people will be mightily unimpressed - if Iain Gray's statement turns out to be no more than cynical electioneering - with an eye on next year's elections to the Scottish Parliament.
