Home To Roost

Here's an article from the East Kilbride News - one of South Lanarkshire's local newspapers - which was published back in September 2011.

Now these equal pay chickens seem to be coming home to roost with a vengeance - but you can't say that South Lanarkshire Council wasn't warned well in advance.

Since that time, of course, many of the senior officials involved have since left the council's employment - with very generous, final salary pension schemes.

Council bosses warned of equal pay minefield 12 years ago (7 September 2011)

By Louise Reilly

A SouthLanarkshire Council boss admitted 12 YEARS AGO that challenges to their bonus scheme – under the Equal Pay Act – would be “indefensible”.

The statement by former corporate director Alan Cuthbertson was in a report tabled at a closed-doors meeting of the authority’s senior management team held on October 7, 1999.

It discussed how the council intended to comply with new legislation designed to end years of pay discrimination between male and female employees.

Much of the discriminatory pay scales arose from bonuses paid to traditional male-dominated jobs – such as binmen and roadworkers – but not to women in equivalent posts.

Mr Cuthbertson – who in 2006 took early retirement aged 51 – uses the report to point out stumbling blocks in the way of introducing so-called single-status agreements.

A report of the crucial 1999 meeting was obtained by Mark Irvine, the former senior union official who runs the Action 4 Equality Scotland website. He used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the document.

However, the section featuring Mr Cuthbertson’s statement was blacked out.

Mr Irvine made submissions to the Freedom of Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion demanding to know the content of the ‘redacted’ section.

Council bosses had until last Friday to release the information and finally handed it over to Mr Irvine last Thursday.

He insists it goes to the heart of the 2133 claims submitted by employees and former staff of the council under equal pay and sex discrimination legislation.

Mr Irvine, who is representing claimants on a no-win-no-fee-basis – instructed Edinburgh-based labour law specialists Fox Cross to handle the South Lanarkshire claims.

The lawyers began presenting claimants’ cases last Wednesday at a resumed employment tribunal pre-hearing likely to last 54 days.

Mr Irvine said of the newly-released statement: “The council are condemned by their own words.

“After all this time, the council have been forced to reveal a document showing that bonus schemes, that were widespread and ran in the council until 2002, were indefensible.

“It’s a remarkable revelation and explains why they fought so hard to prevent the information being shown to the workforce because over 2000 have equal pay claims and on the basis of this evidence they are valid.”

Mr Irvine added: “The council should be ashamed for trying to keep this information under wraps for so long.”

Mr Irvine claims that following the introduction of single-status agreements within the council in 2003, bonus payments to male manual workers were consolidated into their basic pay – maintaining the pay differential with low-paid female staff who were denied bonuses.

“That is why you have some janitors employed by South Lanarkshire Council earning over £30,000 – more than some teachers are being paid,” added Mr Irvine.

Jean MacFarlane, for 14 years a home carer with South Lanarkshire Council, said finally obtaining the information was a step forward.

The 63-year-old, who was being paid £7.20 an hour when she retired last year, is one of the claimants.

She added: “I am not doing this for myself, I am doing it for the girls who are still working there. It’s not about the money, it’s the principle.”

A spokesman for the council said the paper discussed at the senior management team’s meeting 11 years ago outlined several strategies that the council might pursue to achieve single status.

One was to implement the desired changes on the existing jobs structure.

Headded: “In the report released to Mr Irvine last week, Alan Cuthbertson was outlining the difficulties that would arise if the council introduced single status on the basis of the existing organisation.

“Because of those difficulties, we decided on another approach and that was to use the opportunity to re- engineer the workforce structure.

“We went with an approach that we believe was in the best interests of our employees.

“We believe that irrespective of the claims, the agreement on single status ensures equal pay and entitlements and delivers better service to the public. We have not changed our view.”