Council Cheerleaders

Readers in South Lanarkshire regularly send me emails with tales of how their unions locally continue to pour cold water on the fight for equal pay - which doesn't surprise me in the least because, in my view, the trade unions have effectively been acting as 'cheerleaders' for the Council all these years. 

Witness this extract from a previous post which highlights advice from a Unison stewards briefing back in August 2005.

"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."

As I said in the previous post 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 the difference now is that South Lanarkshire's in-house Job Evaluation Scheme (JES) has been declared as 'unfit for purpose' by the Employment Tribunals - more recently the Council lost 'hands down' a landmark FOI case at the UK Supreme Court - and just last month the Council agreed to enter into settlement discussions with Action 4 Equality Scotland.

So I can understand why the unions' noses are out of joint - because they've been on the wrong side of the Equal Pay argument for years and that's unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

STOP PRESS! (28 August 2013)

South Lanarkshire Council has agreed to enter into serious talks about their ongoing equal pay claims which is obviously very welcome news - although there's a long way to go and much talking to be done before any future settlement of people's claims might be reached.

Action 4 Equality Scotland is currently representing over 3,000 clients in South Lanarkshire - with Fox and Partners Solicitors acting for these clients in the Employment Tribunals.

A joint press statement with South Lanarkshire Council has been released which says:

"We are pleased to announce jointly that, following initial meetings between Stefan Cross and Carol Fox with South Lanarkshire Council Leader Eddie McAvoy, both parties wish to engage in exploratory discussions around equal pay."

"The parties involved have agreed to engage in a series of meetings timetabled over the next three months. In order to facilitate these discussions a joint application has been made to postpone hearings due to take place at the Employment Tribunal in Glasgow in September. In the event that parties are unable to agree, new hearing dates can be fixed early next year." 

So the proof of the pudding will become evident over the next couple of months - but for the moment it's business as usual for me and the A4ES blog site.

I'm certainly not counting any chickens until all the eggs are laid and safely hatched - so my FOI campaign and demand for complete 'pay transparency' from the Council will continueBecause the truth is being slowly dragged out of the Council and put into the public domain - where people can see and judge the facts for themselves.

So, I would like to pay my own small tribute to the independent Scottish Information Commissioner and the five wise judges at the UK Supreme Court - whose recent unanimous decision has clearly played a pivotal role in persuading South Lanarkshire Council that the game is finally up.

The key point is that once a secret has been exposed it loses all its power - and that is what's happening in South Lanarkshire today I'm very pleased to say.

Goodness knows what the trade unions will make of this development - after siding with the Council all these years and actively discouraging their lowest paid members from submitting equal pay claims.

In my view, the trade unions in South Lanarkshire should hang their heads in shame - as they have no credibility with their own members after their craven behaviour.

So we shall see what happens in the weeks ahead - if substantial progress is not made, we will be straight back to the Employment Tribunals.

In the meantime, there is still time for all kinds of South Lanarkshire Council employees to submit an equal pay claim - including carers, cooks, cleaners, catering staff, classroom assistants, school clerical workers, office clerical workers and nursery nurses.

And anyone seeking more information regarding a new equal pay claim should drop me a note to the following email address: markirvine@compuserve.com