I Wanna Be Protected!

I think these two posts from the blog site archive speak for themselves - the only thing I would add is that I find it astonishing, quite frankly, that the trade unions who negotiated these pay arrangements with the Council many years ago - should allow the Council to come along all this time later and impose unilateral changes to their members' pay and conditions of service.

To my mind the male workers have done nothing wrong because, as I've said before, equal pay was never about the men being paid too much - but about the women workers being paid too little.

So, a big thank you to the male council workers who have been in touch in recent weeks with details and documents about South Lanarkshire Council's pay arrangements - this information is extremely helpful and will be put to very good use.   

'I Wanna Be Protected' (4 February 2013)

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.

Alice Cooper and Equal Pay

I had the most peculiar dream the other night - I had a dream about Alice Cooper and Equal Pay - the connection being the rock star's famous No 1 hit from the 1970's - 'I Wanna Be Elected'.

Except that Alice wasn't signing 'I Wanna Be Elected' - instead he was belting out the words  'I Wanna Be Protected' - pay protection being an important part of the Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement introduced in Scotland in 1999.

Now the significance of pay protection and equal pay deserves a post all to itself.

So for the moment let me share the original words of 'I Wanna Be Elected' - which comes from the Billion Dollar Babies album - and a You Tube clip of Alice Cooper performing the song.

http://youtu.be/yyCFGDzc45o

I Wanna Be Elected

I'm your top prime cut of meat, I'm your choice,
I wanna be elected,
I'm your Yankee doodle dandy in a gold Rolls Royce,
I wanna be elected,
Kids want a saviour, don't need a fake,
I wanna be elected,
We're all gonna rock to the rules that I make,
I wanna be elected, elected, elected.

I never lied to you, I've always been cool,
I wanna be elected,
I gotta get the vote, and I told you 'bout school,
I wanna be elected, elected, elected,
Hallelujah, I wanna be selected,
Everyone in the United States of America.

We're gonna win this one, take the country by storm,
We're gonna be elected,
You and me together, young and strong,
We're gonna be elected, elected, elected,
Respected, selected, call collected,
I wanna be elected, elected.

"And if I am elected
I promise the formation of a new party
A third party, the Wild Party!
I know we have problems,
We got problems right here in Central City,
We have problems on the North, South, East and West,
New York City, Saint Louis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles,
Detroit, Chicago,

Everybody has problems,
And personally, I don't care."