Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

The trade unions in South Lanarkshire - especially Unison - continue to get a pasting in the local press for their craven behaviour over equal pay. Which is richly deserved - in my opinion. Here's an article from this week's Hamilton Advertiser which a kind reader brought to  my attention - with the wry observation that the union seems to be on the side of the council employer - not the council workers. But there's little wonder that Unison is on the defensive of course - because the union gave evidence in support of South Lanarkshire Council in the recent employment tribunal case - which concluded that the council's job evaluation scheme (JES) does not comply with equal pay legislation - and is therefore 'not fit to be relied upon'. Now you would think this would give the unions some pause for thought - time for  reflection even - because they've been cosying up to South Lanarkshire Council for years - instead of doin...

I've been a big critic of our high street banks for many years - in fact ever since I complained about their poor advice, hidden charges and lousy service about ten years ago now. In fact my complaint was upheld by the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) which helps to regulate the banking sector - so I;m not an 'armchair critic' as far as this particular subject is concerned. Which is why I had to laugh at the comments of Labour leader - Ed Miliband -yesterday when he called for change at the top of Barclays bank which has become embroiled in the latest scandal to hit the industry - fixing interest and lending rates. Ed's rationale for demanding that heads should roll at Barclays is that some senior figures were still in their posts when this bad behaviour was going on - and either turned a blind eye to events or were not courageous enough to make a stand. So they are not the right people to bring about the sweeping changes ...

Lots of readers have been in touch to ask about the Employment Tribunal's decision in respect of South Lanarkshire Council (SLC).   The key point to note is that South Lanarkshire Council's job evaluation scheme (JES) has been declared 'unfit for purpose' – because it does not satisfy the most basic requirements of the UK's equal pay legislation including the 1970 Equal Pay Act.   The Glasgow Employment Tribunal - in a quite devastating judgement – determined that the in-house SLC job evaluation scheme ‘is not to be relied upon’ as far as equal pay is concerned.   So where does that leave South Lanarkshire Council?   In a dirty great hole and one entirely of its own making - I would say - though many of the senior people responsible for this mess have now left South Lanarkshire Council - some with big fat pensions, of course.   The council put all its eggs in one basket - it relied upon its 'in-house' job evaluation scheme as a com...

Scotland's one and only (as far as I'm aware) Distinguished Global Leader in Residence - also known as Gordon Brown MP - has been back in the headlines recently. The former Labour leader and Prime Minister was giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry - into phone hacking and press standards. By all accounts Gordon Brown gave the distinct impression that butter wouldn't melt in his mouth - and that he was the victim of a terrible conspiracy - instead of just being exposed as pretty much useless when he finally landed the top job. Here's an interesting article from the Sunday Times which lays bare the feuding at the heart of the last Labour government - tales that were always denied until Labour lost the 2010 general election - then everyone started writing books that confirmed how awful things really were. Oh, Gordon, you can’t be serious The former PM’s apparent fluid relationship with the truth resurfaced last week. Is he a lia...

I've thought up my very own joke on the back of all this tax avoidance business - involving the comedian Jimmy Carr. Q: 'What's the difference between Jesus Christ and Jimmy Carr?  A: 'Only one of them got hammered with tax!' I wonder if Jimmy would find this funny - maybe I should send it to him or his agent and charge a royalty fee. NB With thanks to Unibond and its 'No More Nails' campaign.  

I am currently trawling through the blog site archive searching for interesting articles about the equal pay debacle in South Lanarkshire Council - here's one I came across from 27 August 2011. I have highlighted a couple of comments from the council leader - Eddie McAvoy - who, in my considered opinion, is understating the problems facing the council by a very long way. Because South Lanarkshire is now in a much deeper hole - than its neighbour in North Lanarkshire. So the real question for South Lanarkshire is: 'When will the council finally stop digging and making its equal pay problems even worse?' "Bitter Equal Pay Battle" Here's a good article on the ongoing fight for equal pay in South Lanarkshire - which appears in this week's edition of the Hamilton Advertiser. The piece might well be published in other local papers - which are part of the same newspaper group. Readers will note that the Hamiton Advertiser is asking its readers what...

The Hamilton Advertiser has reported on the recent Employment Tribunal judgement against South Lanarkshire Council - here's what the paper had to say. I have to laugh at the council's attempt to clutch at any passing straw - with the rather ridiculous comment that their job evaluation scheme was not found to be sex discrminatory. Because it makes no difference whether the job evaluation scheme was designed deliberately to discriminate against female employees of the council. The key point is that the scheme was judged to be 'unfit for purpose' - because it failed to satisfy the basic requirements of equal pay legislation - including the 1970 Equal Pay Act. So even if the big pay differences between male and female council jobs - were the result of incompetence rather than deliberate acts - this does not invalidate people's equal pay claims. At the end of the day South Lanarkshire Council is still responsible....

The Times gave a good account yesterday of the ongoing equal pay scandal in South Lanarkshire Council - here's what the paper had to say:    Town hall and unions ‘connived to underpay women’ A Labour-run local authority has been condemned for failing to implement an equal pay policy after an employment tribunal ruled that thousands of women were systematically underpaid. The marathon case pitted South Lanarkshire Council against 2,400 people, mostly women, who were employed as cooks, cleaners and care assistants. To make matters worse for the “old Labour” establishment in west central Scotland, many of the claimants insist that they were misinformed about their rights by local trade union officials, who are alleged to have been in cahoots with the council to cover up the injustice. Some women are likely to have received up to £10,000 less than men in equivalent roles, with a number of cases dating back ten years. The financial consequences for South Lanarkshi...

Fox Cross Solicitors also released a press statement over yesterday's developments in South Lanarkshire Council - here's what they had to say. MAJOR EQUAL PAY VICTORY FOR THOUSANDS OF LOW PAID WOMEN Fox Cross Solicitors Limited and Action 4 Equality (Scotland) Limited are pleased to announce a major victory for thousands of claimants in a landmark equal pay case against South Lanarkshire Council. We represent over 2,400 claimants with ongoing equal pay claims against the only large Council in Scotland which has thus far refused to settle these cases. The Employment Tribunal has today ruled that the Job Evaluation Scheme used by South Lanarkshire Council does not comply with the provisions of the Equal Pay Act 1970 (now incorporated into the provisions of the Equality Act 2010). The Tribunal heard that as early as 1999 the designer of the Council’s scheme attended a cross-Scotland COSLA Task Force on Equal Pay which acknowledged that women in local authorities had...

Here's what I said about South Lanarkshire Council's 'Mickey Mouse' job evaluation scheme - back on 16 January 2008. Four years later these words have been vindicated - with the Employment Tribunal in Glasgow deciding that the South Lanarkshire Council scheme does not comply with the terms of the 1970 Equal Pay Act. What a shocker for the leadership of this increasingly ridiculous council - but what a victory for the thousands of low paid women - who have been fighting for equal pay all these years. I will have more to say in the days ahead - for the moment what I had to say in 2008 will suffice - although it's worth pointing out that Action 4 Equality Scotland now represents more than 2,400 clients in South Lanarkshire. South Lanarkshire Council should hang its head in shame - if you ask me, its behaviour has been a total embarrassment and disgrace.    Mickey Mouse, South Lanarkshire and Job Evaluati...