Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

The latest on the GMB is that the union appears to be trying to blame North Lanarkshire Council for the mess that surrounds its members equal pay claims instead of accepting responsibility for limiting these claims to just a 3-year protection period. As I've explained before, none of the other parties to the equal pay dispute with North Lanarkshire Council went down this path and for reasons known only to itself the GMB stands alone. My understanding is that the other parties involved (Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unite and Unison) asked the GMB whether the union wanted to change its position on restricting its members claims to only 3 years, as did the Employment Tribunal. But the union refused to do so and as a result the GMB and their representatives left the joint negotiations leaving A4ES, FAP and others to reach a settlement. This left the GMB and its members out in the cold, and it was a deliberate and considered decision by the GMB not...

Trade union members in Scotland will be interested to know that while the fight for equal pay has been in full flow, union bosses have been wasting a small fortune in trying to sell Ed Miliband to the nation.   In the run up to the recent Westminster election Labour's top three donations were: £3.5 million from Unite £697,000 from the GMB  £572,000 from Unison Members' money down the drain if you ask me.

Justin Webb writing in The Times tells the inspiring story of Loretta Lynch, the US attorney general, who has risen to one of the highest offices the American state despite being born at a time when her family was living in segregated conditions similar to those in apartheid South Africa. But that's what I like about America: its 'can do' attitude, its willingness to confront problems and its ability to change the game.  Racism and prejudice still exist in America, obviously, but society has reinvented itself compared to how things were only 50 years ago. Whereas is large parts of the Islamic world, for example, Muslims are still killing each other every day over a long-running, unresolved feud between the Shia and Sunni branches of the same religion. So if you ask me, warts and all, America is still a great country.         If you want justice, call for Loretta Lynch By  Justin Webb  - The Times The US a...

Lots of GMB members from North Lanarkshire have been in touch to ask if I have heard anything about the union's meeting on Thursday to clarify what happening with their equal pay claims. The answer is No, I don't, although my understanding is that the union was planning to write to all 500 or so members involved. What I don't understand is that in the age of the internet why doesn't the union just update the GMB Scotland web site? North Lanarkshire Update (28/05/15) The GMB union is apparently meeting today to consider the position of its members who have equal pay claims against North Lanarkshire Council. So let's hope that the union does the right thing and a good start would be a clear statement to explain exactly what has happened and how the GMB intends to ensure that its members are not punished financially in any way. North Lanarkshire Update (22/05/15) Lots of readers from North Lanarkshire have been in touch over the o...

All four of North Lanarkshire's Westminster MPs were swept away at the Westminster general election and if you ask me, a bit part of the reason was the failure of these elected representatives to stand up for their local constituents over equal pay. Lots of people in North Lanarkshire still have issues with equal pay and I would expect the new intake of MPs to be rather more supportive than their predecessors. So I will publish their contact details on the blog site tomorrow, but given that the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections are now less than 12 months away there's every reason to contact your local MSP for support as well. North Lanarkshire Labour (14/11/14) Here are the name and email addresses for the Westminster MPs (all Labour Party by the way) who currently represent constituencies covering the North Lanarkshire Council areas. Tom Clarke (Labour) - Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill clarket@parliament.uk Gregg McClymont (Labour) - Cumbernau...

I am getting lots of enquiries from union members who have been left out of the recent equal pay settlement with North Lanarkshire Council (NLC). Some of the people involved say they had a 1st wave settlement with a trade union, but no 2nd wave claim has been taken forward for reasons which are unexplained, as yet anyway. Now I find this all very peculiar because trade unions don't behave like this when they are pursuing an annual pay claim, for example, and members don't need to 'opt in' to benefit from any subsequent pay increase that comes along.  The same is true of a strike ballot or a trade union Political Fund Ballot; everyone is involved and no one gets left behind. So why should equal pay be treated any differently? Well the answer is I don't know, but if I were a union member in this position I'd write to the regional secretary in Scotland or the general secretary in London and ask why.    Because people have been paying their u...

Charlie Falconer, Lord Chancellor in the last Labour Government, is a well-known supporter of changing the law on assisted dying bill. In this article for The Guardian Charlie Falconer highlights the case of Jeffrey Spector, the experience of an assisted dying regime in Oregon and the recent decision of the Canadian Supreme Court as evidence of how significantly public opinion on this issue has changed.  Jeffrey Spector deserved better than our cruel law on assisted dying By  Charles Falconer  - The Guardian To avoid incriminating his family a British father died hundreds of miles from home, months before he was ready. It’s time for legal reform Jeffrey Spector with his wife and three daughters. 'To control his own death, he had to 'jump the gun' and travel overseas to die while he was still well enough to make the trip.' Photograph: Facebook / Collect The House of Lords is balloting this evening on private members’ bills for this parlia...

Despite having virtually nothing to say about the benefits system during the lifetime of the last Westminster Parliament, the Labour Party seems finally to have woken up to the fact that voters are in favour of change and a progressive system that provides people with a 'hand up' rather than a long-term 'hand out'.  Better late than never, I suppose, but Labour has a long way to go before the voters will take them seriously because as I recall the party opposed every single reform put forward by the last Coalition Government including the one to remove child support from people earning over £60,000 a year.     Queen's Speech 2015 live: Labour moves to support Tory cuts to benefit cap Follow the action live here By  JON STONE - The Independent Labour has moved to support the Government's plan to reduce the benefit cap to £23,000, according to a statement by interim leader Harriet Harman. Responding to the Queen's Speech in parliament today M...

Labour has opposed every welfare reform proposed by the Coalition Government at Westminster including changes that now prevent people on much better than average salaries (£60,000 plus) being able to claim child benefit, for example. The argument from Ed Miliband has been that these changes harm the 'squeezed middle' and so Labour has continued on its ridiculous mission of trying to be all things to all people - as though it really is possible to make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Yet the impossible logic of Labour's position reached its zenith the other day when the party voted tamely to accept the Coalition Government's proposed new cap on welfare spending, having opposed any practical steps to reform the welfare budget every step of the way.          I think this cartoon from The Independent captures the insanity of the situation rather well.

I enjoyed this report from the BBC which reports that the Syriza-led Government in Greece will not be calling further elections anytime soon. Because what would be the point of an election or a referendum if the question being asked is effectively:  "Do you want your neighbours to pay off your debts and subsidise public spending because successive governments can't be 'arsed' raising enough in taxes from Greek citizens?" So it just goes to show that while elections and referendums are part of the democratic process, they don't of themselves solve anything if the 'winners' behave in a completely unreasonable fashion. Now I live in an apartment building and if one of my neighbours held a vote and decided to exempt themselves from having to pay their communal maintenance charges in the expectation that the rest of us would pick up the slack, then I would definitely have something to say. And if the Greeks were to vote on the proposition that the m...

The Guardian reports on the latest twists and turns of the debt repayment saga in Greece which is becoming more farcical by the day. In recent weeks Greek citizens have withdrawn some like 30 billion Euros from the country's banks, preferring to keep their money 'under the mattress' so distrustful are they of their own Government's ability to run the country properly. Yet at the same time the Greek Government is demanding that the EU and IMF ride to their rescue with outside loans. No wonder the country is is such a terrible mess.    Greece warns it is set to default on debt repayment loans Interior minister says Athens simply cannot satisfy IMF deadline next month unless it works out a deal with eurozone creditors Pensioners chant anti-austerity slogans during a protest in central Athens. Greece has spent the last four months wrangling with Brussels and the IMF following the election of the anti-austerity Syriza party in January. P...

I came across this job advert on the GMB Scotland web site which for some strange reason doesn't mention a salary for the post although I would guess this must be upwards of £35,000 a year. Even more intriguingly, from my point of view at least, are the references to advancing the polices and promoting the interests of the Labour Party whichs seem at odds with the views of most trade union members in Scotland, given the emphatic result of the recent general election. Is it just me, or does anyone else think that unless potential candidates for these jobs are Labour Party supporters, they'll never get past first base  and if so, how does this square with the GMB's claim to be an EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER?  Now I don't have any problem with trade unions having political aims and objects, but you would think that in this day and age the workforce of trade unions (including those at senior level) would broadly reflect the views and values of t...