North Lanarkshire Update
Here's an article by Neil McGrory which appeared in the Cumbernauld News recently, but what's truly amazing is that the GMB has nothing to say for itself - other than 'no comment'.
I wonder what the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, would have to say on the issue if he were invited to say a few words?
Because my experience of people who love to boast about their 'left-wing' politics is that they reluctant to criticise trade unions and Labour-run councils even when they are so clearly in the wrong.
GMB members still awaiting answers
By Neil McGrory - Cumbernauld News
Email: edfitorial@cumbernauld-news.co.uk Twitter: @NewsandChron
Members of the GMB affected by the long-running equal pay dispute with North Lanarkshire Council are still awaiting a satisfactory outcome.
Thousands of council staff, mainly women in lower-paid jobs, have received payments from NLC following extensive negotiations with trade unions.
While the majority of workers’ representatives chose to pursue settlements on the same terms, the GMB team broke off from negotiations to pursue its own terms of settlement, which have been deemed much less favourable than those received by people represented by other organisations.
Mark Irvine of Action 4 Equality Scotland was one of the negotiators who chose to remain in the collective bargaining unit.
He said: “Up to 500 GMB members are still fighting for their rights to equal pay in North Lanarkshire, but sadly they are having to battle with their own union as well as the Labour-run council which has operated discriminatory pay practices for many years.
“The problem is that the GMB decided to restrict the claims of its members to only three years whereas all the other claimant organisations (including Unison and Unite) followed Action 4 Equality Scotland in challenging the council’s pay arrangements and the ‘new’ job evaluation scheme North Lanarkshire introduced in 2007.
“The fair and sensible thing would be for the GMB to accept its responsibility for creating this mess and give members in North Lanarkshire a guarantee that the union will compensate them for any financial loss they suffer, if the GMB is unable to put things right via the Employment Tribunal process.”
With claims dating back for more than a decade, North Lanarkshire Council has paid out over £20m in settlements to date.
GMB refuses to comment on this issue.
GMB members still awaiting answers
By Neil McGrory - Cumbernauld News
Email: edfitorial@cumbernauld-news.co.uk Twitter: @NewsandChron
Members of the GMB affected by the long-running equal pay dispute with North Lanarkshire Council are still awaiting a satisfactory outcome.
Thousands of council staff, mainly women in lower-paid jobs, have received payments from NLC following extensive negotiations with trade unions.
While the majority of workers’ representatives chose to pursue settlements on the same terms, the GMB team broke off from negotiations to pursue its own terms of settlement, which have been deemed much less favourable than those received by people represented by other organisations.
Mark Irvine of Action 4 Equality Scotland was one of the negotiators who chose to remain in the collective bargaining unit.
He said: “Up to 500 GMB members are still fighting for their rights to equal pay in North Lanarkshire, but sadly they are having to battle with their own union as well as the Labour-run council which has operated discriminatory pay practices for many years.
“The problem is that the GMB decided to restrict the claims of its members to only three years whereas all the other claimant organisations (including Unison and Unite) followed Action 4 Equality Scotland in challenging the council’s pay arrangements and the ‘new’ job evaluation scheme North Lanarkshire introduced in 2007.
“The fair and sensible thing would be for the GMB to accept its responsibility for creating this mess and give members in North Lanarkshire a guarantee that the union will compensate them for any financial loss they suffer, if the GMB is unable to put things right via the Employment Tribunal process.”
With claims dating back for more than a decade, North Lanarkshire Council has paid out over £20m in settlements to date.
GMB refuses to comment on this issue.
