'I Wanna Be Protected'

Pay Protection is an integral part of the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement - a major national agreement between Scotland's council employers and trade unions - the terms of which are also incorporated into the employment contracts of individual council employees.

Pay Protection was one of the 'big ticket' negotiating items on the employers' side of the bargaining table - during years of detailed discussion with the trade unions - before joint  agreement was finally reached in 1999.

The trade unions had their own shopping list of course - but the employers insisted on having  a clause in the 1999 Agreement - which limited Pay Protection for a maximum period of up to three years.

So any employee whose grading (and pay) went down as a consequence of job evaluation - would have their earnings protected for three years - allowing people time to adjust, retrain or seek alternative employment.

Now trade unions are always very keen on national agreements - and normally get very upset if employers try to depart from what has been agreed.

Because national agreements are painstakingly put together, involve a process of long and detailed negotiations - and are always underpinned by the best legal advice on both the employer and trade union sides.

In the case of Pay Protection three years was eventually chose as a protection period - to provide a safety net to any council workers adversely affected by Job Evaluation - another integral part of the 1999 Agreement.
  

The council employers and trade unions both accepted that Pay Protection had to have a time limit - otherwise the in-built pay advantage of many traditional male jobs would remain for decades to come.

Three years was finally agreed as an 'acceptable' period of time - because (the lawyers and experts advised) a longer period would almost certainly be viewed as discriminatory for continuing to favour traditional male jobs - and would be open to challenge under Equal Pay legislation.

Now all of this seems quite straightforward and sensible until you stop and consider that in South Lanarkshire Council, for example - many of the traditional male council jobs have had their earnings protected for life - not three years. 

The same thing appears to have happened in Glasgow City Council as well - which is odd - because in these large councils you would expect the employers and the trade unions to be following their own expert advice - and abiding by the terms of a national agreement.

I have to say I'm astonished at the way in which some council employers have simply torn up and re-written the rule book - which, strictly speaking, they are unable to do because that part of the Single Status Agreement cannot be varied at local level.

So the council employers and the trade unions, in some parts of the country, have a lot of explaining to do:

1. for turning their back on their own national agreement
2. for defying the clear advice of their own Equal Pay experts and advisers
3. for introducing 'special arrangements' designed to favour traditional male council jobs

And if you ask me, I don't think they can come up with credible answers.