Glasgow Loses Big Appeal

Glasgow City Council has lost a big appeal case, I'm pleased to say - over whether or not thousands of council workers transferred to various arms length bodies (known as ALEOs) - can continue with their equal pay claims.

The good news is that they can - so hip, hip, hooray - for the 2,700 claimants from Action 4 Equality Scotland who are affected by this decision!

Last year Glasgow City Council managed to persuade an Employment Tribunal that these ALEOs were not an 'associated employer' - in employment law terms.

The significance of which was that these ALEO workers effectively lost their ability to continue with an equal pay claim - once they had been 'TUPE transferred' to one of the new Arms Length External Organisations (ALEOs for short).

Now that always looked like a crazy decision - since the council controlled all of these bodies and even paid some of its councillors extra 'top-up' payments for overseeing the ALEOs - which to many people, myself included, seemed like money for old rope.

My view has always been that Glasgow created these ALEOs in a cynical attempt to evade their responsibilities over equal pay.

Because the council calculated - wrongly as it now turns out - that by putting many of its low paid women workers into a separate, artificially created box (Cordia) - that the women would no longer be employed alongside higher paid male workers who were  comparators for equal pay purposes.

Since the men - according to this train of thought - were all placed in their own ALEO  (City Building) which was not the same or even an associated employer - so the was 'off the hook' as far as future equal pay claims were concerned.

All I would say is that whoever dreamt up this despicable plan - should be sacked forthwith by Glasgow's ruling 'socialist' Labour administration - that is if they have not already departed the scene with an generously enhanced tax-free lump and final salary pension.     
   
The Action 4 Equality Scotland clients were represented by Fox and Partners Solicitors - and Daphne Romney a leading QC who also represented A4ES during the successful GMF hearing against Glasgow City Council back in 2007.

Action 4 Equality Scotland now represents 5,500 clients in the ongoing equal pay claims against Glasgow City Council - whereas the trade unions represent only penny numbers.

As regular readers will recall, the unions in Glasgow kept their members in the dark about the huge pay differences between traditional male and female council jobs - and originally sided with the council when these big pay differences were exposed by A4ES in 2005.

So the trade unions have a credibility problem because of their behaviour in Glasgow  which remains to this day - since the trade unions Glasgow also failed to put up any serious resistance over the creation of ALEOs either.

The case against Glasgow City Council reconvenes in the Glasgow Employment Tribunal on 4 February 2013.

So watch this space for news.