Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

A kind reader has sent me this completely ridiculous statement about the fight for equal pay in South Lanarkshire. But who is responsible for writing this load of old tosh? I promise to let you know tomorrow once I've managed to stop laughing at the notion that the author is trying to give a factual account of the trade unions role in relation to equal pay. So far from being misquoted it seems to me that Unison is trying to rewrite history over its advice to members on pursuing what were, of course, perfectly valid equal pay claims against South Lanarkshire Council. "Margaret, if you attended any of the meetings over the years or read any of our briefings you will know the history. We are often misquoted. It was not a case of "never" or "not entitled". Originally UNISON took claims in every other Council except SLC because SLC had the defence of a job evaluation scheme that in those days other Councils didn't have. That position was kept under r...

I've received another rash of enquiries from readers in South Lanarkshire who are understandably very angry at the spineless behaviour of their trade unions on the subject of equal pay.  Here's what I wrote on the blog site about the situation in South Lanarkshire following the success of A4ES in challenging the Council's pay arrangements in a long-running case at the Glasgow Employment Tribunal: "In the meantime don’t be taken in by the ridiculous propaganda of the trade unions. "For years the unions told council workers that they had no equal pay claims and they actively discouraged people from raising claims in South Lanarkshire. In effect the unions supported the council instead of standing up for their members. "The concerns that the trade unions are voicing now are crocodile tears because if they were serious about protecting their members’ interests they would have lodged protective equal pay claims years ago. The unions did this in other c...

Calling all GMB members in North Lanarkshire - remember to get to the GMB members tomorrow at the Kirkshaws Social Club in Coatbridge. I've re-arranged my diary so I can get along. So be there or be square!

GMB members in North Lanarkshire have organised another meeting to discuss their ongoing campaign for equal pay, but this time some senior officials of the union have agreed to attend which is a big step forward, if you ask me.    The details of the meeting are as follows: Date  - Tuesday 1st September 2015 Time  - 3.30pm to 5.00pm Venue  - Kirkshaws Social Club, Coatbridge, ML5 5DN I've been invited along as well and if I can juggle commitments in my diary, I certainly hope to drop by next Tuesday afternoon. NLC Update  (26/08/15) Well the GMB members meeting in North Lanarkshire yesterday was certainly a lively affair with well over 40 people turning up, at only a few days notice. The discussion focused on three main areas: How did GMB members get into the mess they find themselves in today? What is the current position in relation to North Lanarkshire Council and the Employment Tribunals? What can me...

Jeremy Corbyn's 'jezbollah' tendencies have been laid bare with the revelation that the London Labour MP described Osama bin Laden's death as a "tragedy" in an interview with Iranian state television back in 2011.  Apparently while speaking to the Iranian government's Press TV channel in 2011, Jezza said: "This was an assassination attempt, and is yet another tragedy, upon a tragedy, upon a tragedy. The World Trade Center was a tragedy, the attack on Afghanistan was a tragedy, the war in Iraq was a tragedy." Now if you ask me, the attack on 9/11 was a terrible crime not a tragedy, cold-blooded murder on an industrial scale involving innocent civilians, people of all religious faiths and other with no religious convictions at all.   Jeremy went on to portray himself a fully paid up member of the Conspiracy Party with comments suggesting that the US may have faked bin Laden's death: "We can only guess that there is something fis...

Tony Blair took careful aim at the politics of the Jeremy Corbyn the other day, with an opinion piece in The Observer, in which he characterised Labour's next leader as living in the political equivalent of Alice in Wonderland.  At the heart of Tony Blair's case is the compelling argument that a majority of the electorate supported the Conservatives because they regarded Labour as hostile to business and because they believed Ed Miliband was not really up to the task of bringing the public finances under control. In other words the voters rejected Labour not because Ed Miliband was an 'austerity-lite' version of David Cameron, but because Labour were not regarded as credible or tough enough on the big economic issues of the day. And as Tony Blair points out the only left-wing government in Europe, led by Alexis Tsipras in Greece, has been forced to accept a bail-out package and programme of economic reforms which are significantly tougher ...

I enjoyed this article from Private Eye, the UK's best and only fortnightly satirical magazine, in which a doctor writers about the the beautiful game and the fuss surrounding Jose Mourinho's spectacular falling with Team Chelsea's physician, Eva Corneiro.  A Doctor Writes As a doctor, I'm often asked, What the fuck you doing, you crazy woman?! Don't you know the rules of football?! To which the simple answer is - "Calm down, Mr Mourinho, I'm just doing my job, and it's only a stupid game." This situation arises when a player is injured on the pitch , requiring urgent medical attention, but the manager is more concerned about the flak he's going to get for dropping two points at home to Swansea. What the manager is showing are symptoms of megalomaniacal neurosis or Oligarch Syndrome, which can end in the termination of one's contract, or if Polonium* is involved, something worse. Side effects can include extreme misogyny, sulk...

My heart sank when I heard that the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the Glasgow bin lorry crash "hopes" to reports its findings before January 2016. Now it beats the Chilcot Inquiry by some way, but so what? And although the judge has a big job in assessing all the witness evidence and documents presented at the FAI, four months seems an extraordinary length of time to take to complete such a task, if you ask me.   There's an old saying about the way that courts and lawyers operate which is that:  " The wheels of justice grind slowly, but grind exceedingly fine". I have my doubts, I have to say, and while this FAI has proceeded more quickly than most I am far from optimistic about the end product. 

I came across this intriguing report from BBC Sussex which tells the terrible tale of a 'reckless driver', Minesh Parbat, who has been jailed for seven years for causing the death of his passenger, Lisa Watling, while the two were engaged in a 'sex act'.  Now there are big differences between the 'Crawley case' and the Glasgow bin lorry crash, not least that Mr Parbat had committed a crime by being over the drink/drive limit.   But people don't get sent to jail for being 'over the limit', so it's fair to say I think that Mr Parbat was sent to prison because he was in charge of the vehicle and he had a particular responsibility for the safety of others while driving his car. I am sure Mr Parbat had no intent to harm his passenger on the day of the crash, quite the opposite in fact, and clearly his girlfriend was acting recklessly as well, yet nonetheless the driver was held to be responsible for causing Lisa Watling's death. Whereas ...

The BBC reports on latest developments in the Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the Glasgow bin lorry crash which saw 6 people lose their lives. Yet again, Glasgow City Council comes across poorly and Scotland's largest council seems to have had no proper process in place for thoroughly vetting people who drive disabled schoolchildren around and take charge of giant lorries in our streets. The evidence presented to the FAI suggest that Harry Clarke was an accident waiting to happen and I can't see any way that this chap will not now be sacked for gross misconduct after lying repeatedly to his prospective new employer. The 'excuse' given by Glasgow City Council that applicants for jobs would need to give consent before releasing their medical records is truly pathetic because all that's needed is a requirement within the process that no one will be appointed if they withhold information that is needed to check they are capable of doing their jobs.  And as fo...

The BBC reports that one of the families involved in the Glasgow bin lorry crash has called for the driver of the vehicle to be prosecuted. Now this doesn't surprise me in the least because Harry Clarke, who was behind the wheel when this terrible accident happened, has been exposed for lying persistently about his medical history and fitness to drive. So despite the fact that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided that there would be no criminal charges before the Fatal Accident Inquiry got underway, the CPS decision seems wrong to me and a complete a travesty of justice. Because while the driver did not set out to cause the accident, his behaviour in deliberately concealing his medical history was both reckless and dangerous which passes the test of criminal culpability, if you ask me.   Glasgow bin lorry crash: Call for driver Harry Clarke to be prosecuted BBC  Scotland Harry Clarke has been told he will not face criminal charge...

The BBC reports that the driver of the Glasgow bin lorry which killed six people had been suffering from spells of dizziness and fainting for decades before being behind the wheel on the day of this fatal accident. Now it's impossible not to feel a degree of sympathy for Harry Clarke because he will have to live with the consequences of what happened for the rest of his life, but nonetheless the fact remains that he lied to his new employer, Glasgow City Council, when applying for the job as a driver. Not only that Glasgow City Council then failed to check his employment and medical history properly and, arguably, Scotland's largest council failed in its duty of care towards the public. Yet another Scottish council fails to produce crucial documents which clearly should have been kept on a secure database - a scenario that people fighting for equal pay will be all too familiar with, sadly. To make matters worse the Crown Prosecution Ser...