South Lanarkshire

A reader from South Lanarkshire has been in touch - a Unison member - who says that she was advised back in 2005 not to pursue an equal pay claim against the Council - by a branch officer of the local Unison branch.

Apparently this branch officer advised that a 'test claim' was underway and that union members would receive the same settlement - in the event of a successful outcome. 

Now this advice was completely bonkers of course - negligent even in my opinion.

Because the only people who will receive an equal pay settlement - are those who have registered an equal pay claim with the Employment Tribunals and that has always been the case.

Now the reader recently registered an equal pay claim with Unison, but when she raised this business of her 8 'missing years' since 2005 - she was told there was nothing the union could now do - even though it appears that Unison was clearly in the wrong.

Incredibly, the reader was also told that she could not get advice on what happened from Unison's legal advisers - as that might lead to the union having to take legal action against itself.

"What's wrong with that I have to ask myself ?" - especially if the Unison caused the problem in the first place - surely the union should step up and accept responsibility if a member has been disadvantaged by the union issuing poor and misleading advice.

Understandably the reader is now very fed up and feels that she has been led up the garden path, so to speak - she no longer trusts the union and wanted to know if she could transfer her equal pay claim from Unison to Action 4 Equality Scotland.

The answer to that question is Yes - and the same is true for anyone else in South Lanarkshire who may be in the same position.

A4ES is currently investigating what recourse union members in this situation might have - if they have been given clear and unambiguous by their trade union not to proceed with an equal pay claim.

So spread the word and watch this space.