Tickety Boo!
I promised to return to the 'Stewards Briefing' from the Unison South Lanarkshire Branch which was passed on to me recently - so here are a few extracts of what it has to say.
The document is dated 26 August 2005 - exactly eight years ago today.
"EQUAL PAY CLAIMS - WHY SOUTH LANARKSHIRE IS DIFFERENT"
"Stewards will have seen the press coverage of a firm of English lawyers who are offering to run equal pay claims in Scotland. You may also have seen leaflets from this firm in the name of Action 4 Equality Scotland, promising thousands of pounds in compensation. Mark Irvine, who was formerly a UNISON official, is fronting this firm.
The situation in South Lanarkshire is different from the other 31 local authorities in Scotland. Here the Council has negotiated and agreed a settlement with UNISON, TGWU and GMB that deals with equal pay and the overall issues of Single Status.
Most, though not all, other Councils have adopted the Job Evaluation Scheme recommended by the Scottish Joint Council (SJC - COSLA and the 3 unions at Scottish level). South Lanarkshire Council has instead used the Competence Initiative to assess and grade jobs within the Council. At the same time they negotiated with the 3 unions to introduce common terms and conditions."
Now I think a fair summary of what this briefing document is saying is that everything in South Lanarkshire is just 'tickety boo' - that Single Status is a done deal and union members don't need to be concerned about equal pay or any need to pursue equal pay claims with their Council employer.
But this is the same South Lanarkshire Council whose 'in-house' Job Evaluation Scheme (JES) was declared 'unfit for purpose' by a Glasgow Employment Tribunal last year - because it fails to comply with Equal Pay legislation.
What the document doesn't say is that after the Job Evaluation exercise the Council's female dominated jobs - carers, cooks, catering staff, cleaners, classroom assistants, clerical workers - all stayed firmly at the bottom of the Council's pay ladder.
Yet the purpose of the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement in Scotland was to sweep away years of historical pay discrimination facing these traditionally female dominated jobs - and give them a much better deal in future.
The argument then, as now, was not that traditional male jobs were paid too much - but that the women's jobs were paid far too little - how could a gardener's or a refuse worker's job be worth £9 or £10 an hour and a carer's or cook's job, for example, be worth only £6 an hour?
And as everyone in South Lanarkshire knows now - thanks to the UK Supreme Court - the Council tried to keep these pay details secret for years instead of coming clean and explaining the true nature of the 'deal' that had been struck with the unions.
So these chickens are now coming home to roost, but I was struck by the language directed towards Stefan Cross as an 'English lawyer' - as if his nationality was in any way relevant to the fight for Equal Pay.
Not surprisingly, ordinary union members in South Lanarkshire didn't listen to this drivel and voted with their feet by pursuing equal pay claims with Action 4 Equality Scotland - in their thousands.
In my view, the unions became far too close and cosy with the Council - because they failed to stand up for the interests of their lowest paid members when it mattered most - and they're paying a high price for that craven behaviour now.
