Message for Miliband
An enterprising reader has written to the new leader of the Labour party - Ed Miliband - with some thoughts about equal pay. Here's what she had to say:
Dear Mr Miliband
Congratulations on your election as Leader of the Labour party.
I listened with interest to the announcement made at the Labour party conference regarding a living wage of £7.00 per hour.
I support any moves to tackle low pay, but thought I would point out that we have been waiting on the council employers in Scotland to deliver equal pay since 1999 - which they agreed to do in signing up to the 1999 Single Status Agreement.
If they had lived up to their promises all female council workers in Scotland would have been earning more than £7.00 an hour many years ago - and up until 1997 most of the larger councils were Labour controlled.
The fact is that every traditional male council job - Refuse Workers, Gardeners, Streetsweepers, Gravediggers - has been earning £9.00 or £10.00 an hour for many years - while female dominated jobs such as Home Carers, Cooks, Classroom Assistants, Clerical Workers and Cleaners - have all been losing out to the tune of thousands of pounds a year.
The council employers and the trade unions turned a blind eye to the problem - and to my mind they don't have the interest of low paid women workers at heart
Many women council workers in Scotland have outstanding equal pay claims which are awaiting settlement - I hope you will encourage Labour leaders in Scottish councils to settle these outstanding claims as quickly as possible - because up until now they have let their women workers down.
On another note I would also like to say - especially at this time when spending cuts have to be made - that as a council tax payer I am appalled at the hundreds of thousands of pounds Scottish councils are paying out on external legal fees defending the indefensible.
Of all the things that your party now get that the British public have been saying, I hope this has now been added to the list.
Kindest regards
SM"
Now that's what I call getting your point across.
Dear Mr Miliband
Congratulations on your election as Leader of the Labour party.
I listened with interest to the announcement made at the Labour party conference regarding a living wage of £7.00 per hour.
I support any moves to tackle low pay, but thought I would point out that we have been waiting on the council employers in Scotland to deliver equal pay since 1999 - which they agreed to do in signing up to the 1999 Single Status Agreement.
If they had lived up to their promises all female council workers in Scotland would have been earning more than £7.00 an hour many years ago - and up until 1997 most of the larger councils were Labour controlled.
The fact is that every traditional male council job - Refuse Workers, Gardeners, Streetsweepers, Gravediggers - has been earning £9.00 or £10.00 an hour for many years - while female dominated jobs such as Home Carers, Cooks, Classroom Assistants, Clerical Workers and Cleaners - have all been losing out to the tune of thousands of pounds a year.
The council employers and the trade unions turned a blind eye to the problem - and to my mind they don't have the interest of low paid women workers at heart
Many women council workers in Scotland have outstanding equal pay claims which are awaiting settlement - I hope you will encourage Labour leaders in Scottish councils to settle these outstanding claims as quickly as possible - because up until now they have let their women workers down.
On another note I would also like to say - especially at this time when spending cuts have to be made - that as a council tax payer I am appalled at the hundreds of thousands of pounds Scottish councils are paying out on external legal fees defending the indefensible.
Of all the things that your party now get that the British public have been saying, I hope this has now been added to the list.
Kindest regards
SM"
Now that's what I call getting your point across.
