North Lanarkshire

A number of readers from North Lanarkshire have been in touch regarding 'second wave equal pay claims.

The people concerned say that while their trade union took up what is known as a 'first wave' equal pay claim (i.e. up to the point in November 2006 when Job Evaluation was introduced) - they've had no information about a 'second wave' equal pay claim which deals with the post Job Evaluation period.  

Now this is important and significant because North Lanarkshire's job evaluation scheme (JES) is now in real trouble, as regular readers know from previous posts.

For example, the scores given to many female dominated jobs (such as Home Carers) have been shown to be unreliable. 

Not only that, traditional male council jobs also appear to have been assimilated onto the new pay scales in a more favourable way than their female colleagues.  

So anyone in North Lanarkshire who is in any doubt about whether or not they have a 'second wave' equal pay claim underway, should register one as soon as possible - because this will protect your interests going forward.

And listening to the trade unions' advice could prove to be a costly business, as many ordinary union members in South Lanarkshire have just discovered.

For the avoidance of any doubt, this situation does not apply to clients of Action 4 Equality Scotland - all A4ES clients who had a 'first wave' claim already have a 'second wave' claim underway.

A4ES clients have no need to do anything at this stage, other than to sit tight and await further developments.   

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Now that South Lanarkshire has settled all of its outstanding equal pay claims, the focus of attention is switching to neighbouring North Lanarkshire Council - where equal pay is still very much a live issue.

Action 4 Equality Scotland (A4ES) is leading the way as far as the fight for equal pay in North Lanarkshire is concerned, just as we did in South Lanarkshire and all the other councils across Scotland.

So for the moment equal pay is very much ‘unfinished business’ as far as A4ES is concerned and here are some key issues that have still to be resolved.

• A fair and just settlement of the equal pay claims submitted by former APT&C Workers - so-called Equal Value claims from employees in a wide range of clerical and other ‘salaried’ or ‘white collar’ jobs
• A full and just settlement of all the equal pay claims submitted by former Manual Workers which have been settled only partially up until now - A4ES continues to pursue these cases vigorously at the Glasgow Employment Tribunal.
• A4ES’s success in South Lanarkshire has driven home the message that lots of council employees in North Lanarkshire have still to protect their interests by registering an equal pay claim.

SO DON’T GET LEFT BEHIND

REGISTER AN EQUAL PAY CLAIM WITH 

ACTION 4 EQUALITY SCOTLAND 

TODAY

Contact Action 4 Equality Scotland:

Phone:0131 652 7366

Email: enquiries@action4equality.co.uk

Keep up to date with there latest news on the Action 4 Equality Scotland blog site and for the further information contact Mark Irvine at: markirvine@compuserve.com