North Lanarkshire Update

If my email inbox is anything to go by, North Lanarkshire is abuzz with angry Home Carers demanding to know just what the hell is going on with their job evaluation review.

I don't blame them, I have to say; in their shoes I'd probably being leading an angry mob waving pitchforks on the council's Motherwell HQ. 

Now the review is being 'led' by council management and the trade unions which may help to explain why an exercise that was due to be completed before the end of December 2015 is now staring May 2016 straight in the face.

Not only that, of course, because an even bigger problem has emerged over the way in which the exercise is being conducted and it looks as if history is repeating itself with council managers 'talking down' the duties and responsibilities of Home Carers, the largest single group involved in the review.

Is the 'special' treatment that Home Carers are receiving being meted out to any of the male groups involved? 

I don't know to be honest, but I very much doubt that the council's refuse workers and gardeners would  put up with this kind of nonsense.

So, if you ask me, this looks like a repeat of what happened last time (in 2006/07) when senior management rewrote job evaluations on the basis of their own views of what the job entailed, which meant that the Home Carers ended up with lower scores and lower grades that their jobs deserved. 

I am told that forces within NLC are arguing that the Physical Effort (one of the job evaluation factors) element of a Home Carer's job should be assessed at only 5% which seems outrageous given that Home Carers have to walk from place to place, clean toilets and bedding when they are soiled, bend and crouch, etc, etc.

Think about it - if 5% is an accurate figure, Home Carers in North Lanarkshire spend only 3 minutes in every hour on duties which require a degree of Physical effort.

And if that's true, then I'm Osama bin Laden's long lost brother!

So what I would say is that if this farcical behaviour continues, Action 4 Equality Scotland will definitely be challenging the outcome of the job evaluation review.