Divide and Rule?
The feedback I have been getting from GMB members in recent days is that they are very concerned that their own union is adopting a 'divide and rule' approach to their equal pay claims against North Lanarkshire Council (NLC).
And I can understand where people are coming from, I have to admit.
Because instead of bringing everyone together at a single meeting where members can discuss and share their concerns (i.e. the way unions normally behave), these GMB members are being isolated and separated off at a series of 'roadshow' events where they will be invited individually to say whether they agree with a settlement offer from NLC.
Now GMB members know absolutely nothing about any NLC 'settlement offer' going into these roadshow meetings nor have they been provided with a proper written explanation as to why the GMB pursued a completely different strategy to all the other parties involved in the equal pay dispute: Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite.
So the suspicion of many GMB members is that the union is up to no good and may be trying to gloss over their own mistakes by encouraging GMB members to accept very poor settlement offers from North Lanarkshire Council.
Which would suit NLC as well, of course, since the Council would end up paying out far less money in compensation to GMB members.
What GMB members are not being told and what they should be asking is:
1 What is the value of my equal pay claim based on the claim currently lodged with the Employment Tribunals?
2 What is the potential value of my equal claim if this were to be settled on the same terms as the other parties involved in the dispute with NLC?
3 What are the prospects of success if my equal pay claim has to go back to the Employment Tribunals?
4 What is the advice of the GMB and the union's solicitors on whether to accept the NLC settlement offer or not - and what reasons underpin this advice?
If I were a GMB member, I would put these points in writing to the union and the union's solicitors in advance of the roadshow meetings and highlight the fact that no informed decision can be taken by GMB members until they are all properly and fully explained.
