Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

I enjoyed this article from The Herald which reported that Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is up for a scrap with extra-terrestrials invading Planet Earth in a modern re-working of The Kraken Wakes. Great news if you ask me, because it suggests that after fighting off invading aliens it should be child's play for the First Minister to get stuck into Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council over equal pay. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14299993.Nicola_Sturgeon_battles_alien_invasion_terrorising_UK_in_new_BBC_drama_debut/ First Minister Nicola Sturgeon battles alien invasion terrorising UK in new BBC drama debut First Minister Nicola Sturgeon with Val McDermid at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last year By  PHIL MILLER  - The Herald She has obtained sweeping new powers for Scotland, leads a party poised to dominate Holyrood for years - and is now set to restore order to a UK invaded by aliens. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to make first fora...

Not surprisingly, there has been lots of interest in my post yesterday about the First Minister and Equal Pay. So I thought I'd just highlight (from a previous post) what Nicola Sturgeon had to say about the behaviour of 'foot-dragging' council in her remarks at FMQs in the Scottish Parliament.    Linda Fabiani:  Does the First Minister agree that local authorities in which the same political party has been in office for years, such as South Lanarkshire Council, have no excuse at all not to have settled equal pay claims on a fair and equitable basis? Does she realise that some of the claims date back for many years and continue to cause stress and strife among hard-working constituents in East Kilbride and elsewhere? The First Minister:  Ministers have repeatedly made clear—I do so again unequivocally today—that the delays by councils in settling equal pay claims are completely unacceptable. As Linda Fabiani said, many of the claims go back to...

I get emails on a daily basis from people asking how they can play their part in the ongoing battle with North Lanarkshire Council over equal pay. Well publicity is a great weapon, particularly in the run-up to the next Scottish Parliament elections which will be held in May 2016 and this whole business in North Lanarkshire has been dragging on for far too long - 16 years in the case of First Wave NLC claimants whose cases have still to be settled.   So if you ask me for a good way of getting a strong message across to the powers that be, I would go straight to the top and write directly to Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, who had these interesting words to say about 'foot-dragging' councils at FMQs in the Scottish Parliament last year.    First Minister's Questions (FMQs) - Equal Pay 4. Linda Fabiani (East Kilbride) (SNP):  To ask the First Minister what action the Scottish Government considers needs to be taken to fully realise...

In a recent post I set out a number of practical campaigning ideas for people to take up to turn up the heat on Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council - one of which was to contact Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon. So I was delighted to read this article which appeared in The Herald newspaper the other day which says that Nicola Sturgeon is preparing to take the fight to stay in Europe to voters in England. Because all too often politicians say they can't get involved in issues beyond their direct remit, that it's not their business and they have no powers to tell local councils (for example) what to do when it comes to equal pay. Which is true, of course, though completely beside the point since the issue is not about the First Minister, MSPs or MPs instructing North Lanarkshire Council what to do or how to clear up a mess of their own foolish making. No, the issue is that politicians at all levels are perfectly entitled to establish the facts and ma...

A4ES is now down to just a small handful of 'missing' claimants from Fife who have still to get in touch regarding their outstanding equal pay claims.  The following individual is on this small and dwindling list. Avril has a significant claim which will remain with Fife Council if no one comes forward:  1 Avril Sidebottom So if anyone knows how to contact Avril, please ask her to get in touch with the A4ES office as soon as possible. Because it would be a real  shame if  the monies due to Avril remain with Fife Council, after all the hard work that's gone into achieving a settlement. Action 4 Equality Scotland Here are contact details for Action 4 Equality Scotland - including a new telephone number .  Action 4 Equality Scotland 10 York Place Edinburgh EH1 3EP Email:  enquiries@action4equality.co.uk Phone:  0131 659 9958

The Sunday Herald reports that the senior North Lanarkshire Council official who was suspended as the result of some obscure row over teacher numbers has now resigned from his post. The reasons behind Andrew Sutherland's suspension, presumably on full pay, have still to be explained but if you ask me it looks decidedly odd that this official has been singled out, when those responsible for NLC's equal pay debacle are still at their desks. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14307391.North_Lanarkshire_Council_boss_in_teacher_number_probe_quits_post/ North Lanarkshire council director who was suspended over teacher numbers row quits his post North Lanarkshire Council By  Paul Hutcheon  -The Sunday Herald A director in one of Scotland’s biggest local authorities who was suspended amid a row over inaccurate teaching numbers has resigned. A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council confirmed Andrew Sutherland had quit and said he did not receive a pay-off. Ho...

The BBC reports that a senior official in North Lanarkshire has been suspended over some issues about the maintenance and accuracy of Council data on the numbers of teaching staff. Now I don't know how serious or otherwise the issue is, but when you think that no action has been taken against any of the Council's senior officials over the scandal of equal pay, you have to wonder whether North Lanarkshire has got its priorities right. North Lanarkshire Council official suspended in teacher numbers probe BBC  Glasgow & West Scotland A senior official at one of the Scotland's largest local authorities has been suspended from his post. North Lanarkshire Council is investigating concerns about information kept on teacher numbers. A spokesman said Andrew Sutherland, executive director of learning and leisure services, had been suspended "pending an internal investigation". He added: "The investigation concerns the maintenance and accuracy of data on ...

In responding to my recent FoI request North Lanarkshire Council provided the following link to the Council's web site which provides details of the performance bonuses paid to senior officials in 2013/14. Now the total for the Council Management Team (CMT) comes to £43,786.57 in the latest year for which figures are available, but to be added to this are the performance bonuses paid to 21 'Heads of Service' posts which range from £4,684.68 to £9,485.11. So the Heads of Service posts must have cost the taxpayer between £98,378.28 (i.e. 21 x £4,684.68) and £199,187.31 (i.e. 21 x £9,485.11) on top of the CMT bill of £43,786.57 which means that in 2014 North Lanarkshire Council spent up to £242,973.88 in performance bonuses for its most senior and highest paid officials. I find that quite amazing, I have to say. Especially when the rest of the Council workforce has faced a policy of pay restraint and at a time when the Council has been forced to own up to a seriou...