NLC Update (22/06/15)
I hope Paul Kenny, UK boss of the GMB, reads the A4ES blog site regularly because this email from a low paid union member in North Lanarkshire should cause Sir Paul to hang his head in shame.
Hi Mark
Went to GMB roadshow yesterday and I am totally disgusted with way GMB members are getting treated.
On arriving I spoke to some ladies who had already had their meeting and they said offer was ridiculous and that the gentleman she had spoke to told her that new claim would be lodged and would be sorted within six month, different story when I went in was told they could not tell me how long it could rake and I asked if I rejected the claim was there a risk of not having my offer increased or losing it and he said there is always a risk.
I know what I was offered was disgraceful but the thought of losing it completely made me take the offer, I don't know if this was the right thing to do, but at the moment I felt under pressure and had no one there to advise me.
I hope all those who rejected there offer get the offer that they want and don't have to wait long.
Thanks
E
Now the reason this member is being made such a poor offer of settlement is down, pure and simply, to the incompetence of the GMB union.
The GMB deliberately chose to restrict its members claims to only 3 years and refused to get on board with all the other parties involved in the North Lanarkshire equal pay dispute: Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite.
So why should the ordinary union members pay the price of the GMB's mistakes and incompetence?
Especially when they have been paying big money in union membership fees for years for the GMB to look after their interests?
But instead of owning up to the real reasons its members in North Lanarkshire are in this mess, the GMB deliberately fails to recommend that members reject the derisory settlement offers which can only (as the email says) put pressure on individual members to accept a small fraction of what their equal pay claims are really worth.
Now what should happen is that the GMB should promise to compensate its members in North Lanarkshire for the difference between the current derisory offer and the level of settlement achieved by all the other equal pay claimants (A4ES, FAP, Unison and Unite).
Because that would treat ordinary union members fairly while the GMB continues the fight to put things to right via North Lanarkshire Council and/or the Employment Tribunals.
But if the GMB fails to step up to the plate and 'do the right thing' then, in the interests of justice, maybe GMB members in North Lanarkshire will need to start thinking about taking legal action against their own union.
Now the reason this member is being made such a poor offer of settlement is down, pure and simply, to the incompetence of the GMB union.
The GMB deliberately chose to restrict its members claims to only 3 years and refused to get on board with all the other parties involved in the North Lanarkshire equal pay dispute: Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite.
So why should the ordinary union members pay the price of the GMB's mistakes and incompetence?
Especially when they have been paying big money in union membership fees for years for the GMB to look after their interests?
But instead of owning up to the real reasons its members in North Lanarkshire are in this mess, the GMB deliberately fails to recommend that members reject the derisory settlement offers which can only (as the email says) put pressure on individual members to accept a small fraction of what their equal pay claims are really worth.
Now what should happen is that the GMB should promise to compensate its members in North Lanarkshire for the difference between the current derisory offer and the level of settlement achieved by all the other equal pay claimants (A4ES, FAP, Unison and Unite).
Because that would treat ordinary union members fairly while the GMB continues the fight to put things to right via North Lanarkshire Council and/or the Employment Tribunals.
But if the GMB fails to step up to the plate and 'do the right thing' then, in the interests of justice, maybe GMB members in North Lanarkshire will need to start thinking about taking legal action against their own union.
