The Fight for Equal Pay
The Herald reports that Nicola Sturgeon plans to get tough with council bosses who are dragging their feet over equal pay, if she is re-elected in next month's Scottish Parliament elections and returns as First Minister.
Now that's a welcome development if you ask me, because I've been campaigning for months for the Scottish Government to take an active interest in the terrible mess that many Scottish councils have made of their pay arrangements and obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
I can't be the only person to find it ironic that Scotland's First Minister 'in-waiting' delivered her message to the STUC because, as regular readers know, the trade unions have been part of the problem in respect of equal pay with their slavish support for the Labour Party and Labour-run councils, along with their short-sighted focus on protecting the interests of traditional male jobs.
So who knows, maybe Nicola Sturgeon is keeping up with events bias the blog site which is all the more reason to step up the pressure on councils like Glasgow and North Lanarkshire to do the right thing, put an end to this sorry saga and resolve all of their outstanding equal pay claims.
Read the full piece in The Herald via the internet link below.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14435796.Nicola_Sturgeon_vows_to_get_tough_with_council_chiefs_over_pay_equality_for_women/
Nicola Sturgeon vows to get tough with council bosses over pay equality for women
Nicola Sturgeon vows to get tough with council chiefs over pay equality for women
By Daniel Sanderson - The Herald
NICOLA Sturgeon will today warn council chiefs that she is ready to hit them with tough new penalties if they continue to drag their feet over wage equality for thousands of female workers.
The First Minister, in an address to the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) in Dundee, is expected to announce that if she is re-elected next month she will explore sanctions that the Scottish Government could impose on town halls if they refuse to honour equal pay obligations.
It is understood that the feasibility of imposing fines on local authorities through their financial settlement will be considered, if they fail to resolve disputes by a deadline of April next year.
North Lanarkshire Update (16/03/16)
Some people say that politicians can't get directly involved in the fight for equal pay in Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council.
But this is nonsense, of course, because there are countless examples of Scottish politicians getting stuck into an issue even when it involves an 'independent corporate entity which is entirely separate from the Scottish Government'.
Take the Farepak scandal, for example.
Readers may recall that Farepak (a private company) went bust in 2006 leaving thousands of people out of pocket in the run up to Christmas, as their savings went down the drain.
Yet the fact that Farepak was an 'independent corporate entity' didn't stop politicians of every stripe and political party queuing up to get their tuppence worth in and demanding that something must be done.
What is needed in North Lanarkshire is a 'call to arms' if you ask me, a demand for action inside and outside the Council so that senior figures are held to account for the terrible mess that's been made of the Council's pay arrangements over the years.
SNP urges aid for Farepak crash victims
The Scotsman - 24 December 2014
THE SNP today issued a Christmas Eve appeal to the UK Government for compensation for Farepak families, who are still waiting for reparation four years after the collapse of the Christmas savings club.
Work and Pensions spokeswoman Eilidh Whiteford has written to Business Secretary Vince Cable, asking why 20,000 Scottish customers who lost their money in 2006 are still out of pocket.
She said: "The UK Government bent over backwards to bail out the banks, and is rightly compensating customers of Equitable Life but hasn't found a single penny for the Farepak families.
"It is four years since Farepak collapsed, but that nightmare of Christmas past is still being felt by many low-income families.
"It is simply disgraceful that, years after the company collapsed, customers are still waiting for their money back."
The Daily Record - 16 July 2012
Labour’s Katy Clark, MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, has written to Cable to demand answers over the collapse of the case.
She said: “This decision is yet another kick in the teeth for those who lost out as a result of the Farepak collapse.
“More than five years on, savers have yet to receive a penny of their money back or see those responsible held accountable.”
22 Dec 2008
Glasgow East MP, John Mason, has issued an eve of Christmas appeal calling for the UK Government to bring forward compensation for Farepak families, who are still waiting for reparation two years after the collapse.
Comparing the UK Government’s response to bailing out the banks with Farepak, Mr Mason has written to Gareth Thomas, Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Consumer Affairs, asking why 20,000 Scottish customers – including hundreds of Glaswegians – are still out of pocket two years later.
SNP call for major Farepak probe
BBC News - 17 November 2006
Farepak customers have been fighting to win compensation
The Scottish National Party has called for a criminal investigation into the collapse of the Christmas savings company Farepak.More than 150,000 customers lost an average of £400 each when the company went into administration in October.
Stewart Hosie MP, the SNP's Treasury spokesman has written to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. He asked him to consider launching a criminal investigation after the Swindon-based firm collapsed.
Stewart Hosie MP, SNP's Treasury spokesman said:
"Press reports would indicate that large sums of savers money were salted away to Farepak's parent company EHR and that Farepak continued to request and receive money until very shortly before it folded.
"I hope that the DTI will pursue a criminal investigation."
First Minister and Equal Pay (15/03/16)
A good number of readers took up my suggestion of writing to Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, to highlight the scandalous track record or Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council in relation to equal pay.
Now I have a lot of time for Nicola Sturgeon, but I think it's fair to say that people feel rather underwhelmed at the First Minister's official response from a civil servant on behalf of the Scottish Government.
Here is the 'guts' of what the civil servant had to say:
"Councils are independent corporate entities and entirely separate from the Scottish Government. Their powers are set out in statute and, as long as they act lawfully, it is up to each local authority to manage its day to say business. This includes decisions on pay and conditions of employment of council staff. They are accountable to their own electorates, not the Scottish Government, and Scottish Ministers have no general powers that would enable them to call on a council to account for its actions. I would also add that the GMB is an entirely independent organisation and the Scottish Government has no power to intervene in union matters.
"The Scottish Government is keen to see the resolution of all equal pay claims. That is why in August 2014 the then Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Economic Growth, John Swinney, agreed to a request from COSLA for more flexibility to deal with equal pay claims, by allowing councils additional time to plan for the funding of equal pay payments, and to use capital receipts to fund the cost of claims. However, it is up to any individual council to decide whether to take up this offer.
"You may like to know that in December 2014in the Scottish Parliament, Marco Biagi MSP, the Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment, said that he thought the delays in settling equal pay disputes was unacceptable, and that he would continue to challenge this. However, as Mr Biagi also said the Scottish Government has no formal power to intervene in this matter."
Now this is typical "Yes Minister' stuff which faces both ways at the same time if you ask me, with a general message of concern and support while emphasising that the Scottish Government has no formal power to intervene over the mess that Scotland's fourth largest council has made of equal pay.
Now as everyone knows, that is a statement of the bleedin' obvious, as they say, because no one is expecting Nicola Sturgeon or other Scottish Ministers to step in and take over day-to-day responsibility for the running of North Lanarkshire Council.
But as I pointed out to the First Minister in my own letter dated 28 November 2014 I believe that is is possible for the Scottish Government to investigate North Lanarkshire Council's behaviour under The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012.
My full letter to the First Minister is reproduced below in the blog post titled 'Food For Thought' dated 17 February 2016 although this extract focuses on the key provision of Clause 11.
"My purpose in raising these matters with you, as First Minister, is to invite the Scottish Government to use its powers under the Equality Act to launch an investigation into North Lanarkshire Council's behaviour. My reading of The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) (Scotland) Regulations 2012 suggests that the Scottish Government can intervene and is able to do so under Clause 11 of the Statutory Instrument which says:
"Duty to consider other matters
"11. In carrying out its duties under these regulations, a listed authority may be required to consider such matters as may be specified from time to time by the Scottish Ministers."
So if you ask me, Scottish Ministers (whether Nicola Sturgeon or local government minister, Marco Biagi) do have the power to call North Lanarkshire to account, for example, by requiring the to explain how the Council made such a mess of its pay arrangements for the past 10 years and more.
In other words it's very much a case of 'game on' and the key thing now is to persuade NLC politicians, local and nationally, that the behaviour of North Lanarkshire Council deserves to be placed under and independent scrutiny.
