North Lanarkshire Update



The recent tribunal hearing involving A4ES and North Lanarkshire Council (on behalf of Sheltered Housing Wardens, Clerical Workers and Classroom Assistants) did not resolve the various issues that are still in dispute.

 However the Employment Judge did set dates for a full hearing in May 2016 which could last, potentially, up to ten days.

 In the meantime the Council has been ordered to specify its defences to the claim that these female dominated jobs are not of 'equal value' to their male comparators. 

Sounds crazy, I know, North Lanarkshire is persisting with the argument that a Gardener 2 was rated and paid more highly than a Sheltered Housing Warden (SHW), quite properly according to Council bosses. 

 Despite the fact that under NLC's 2006 job evaluation scheme (JES) the female SHW job was awarded new NLC Grade 6 while the male Gardener 2 was awarded the lower NLC Grade 5.

 So how does that work? - I ask myself.

 Because it seems to me, the higher graded female job (whose duties never changed by the way) cannot at any time have been worth less than the lower graded male job - unless we're all living in some kind of equal pay version of Alice in Wonderland.

 Any sensible council would have settled these issues a long time ago and goodness knows A4ES has proposed settlement talks, but the Council leadership in North Lanarkshire has dug its heels in, not for the first time, which means that the ongoing fight for equal pay will remain a major issue in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections in May 2016.

 Because the review of NLC jobs (which was supposed to be completed by the end of 2015) is still outstanding and if this is not done quickly and satisfactorily, thousands of equal pay claims from Council Home Carers could end up back in the Employment Tribunals along with those from Sheltered Housing Wardens, Clerical Workers and Classroom Assistants.

 I'll have more to say on the subject soon, but it looks as though things are gearing up for a major new campaign in North Lanarkshire over the next few months.

 So watch this space.



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