**Stop Press**

A number of readers have contacted me regarding a GMB members meeting that is taking place this evening, apparently, to discuss the prospect of new and improved equal pay settlement offers from North Lanarkshire Council.

Regular readers will recall that GMB members initially received settlement offers that were hugely inferior to Action 4 Equality Scotland clients and the other trade unions (who followed A4ES's lead) because the GMB and/or its advisers decided to restrict their members claims to only three years.

So I hope things go well for people tonight an thought I'd re-publish this post from the blog site archive which explains what to look out for as far as any settlement offer is concerned.

Given what happened last time round I would expect all GMB members to be given clear written advice explaining how any new offer has been calculated and a proper opportunity to raise any queries or concerns before having to sign on the dotted line.

Fingers crossed! 





Here is a series of posts I wrote for the blog site regarding the equal pay settlement offers that the GMB union was encouraging its members in North Lanarkshire to accept in the summer of 2015. 

Now thanks to a spirited campaign by a lively band of women members (and a little help from me), the GMB finally saw the error of its ways and got shot of its previous regional secretary in Scotland (Harry Donaldson) and the union's previous legal advisers (Digby Brown) which, of course, means accepting that the previous settlement offers were a complete disgrace.

I'm just pleased to have played a role in helping the union to see the wood through the equal pay trees.

NLC Update (28/07/15)

Sum of Payment to Claimant

The figure referred to here is the net settlement being offered to the employee after allowing for all deductions including income tax and as everyone knows the proposed settlement with the GMB is much lower than all the other claimants because the GMB decided without consulting its members to restrict their claims to only 3 years.  

As I have said before, North Lanarkshire Council was clearly operating discriminatory pay arrangements for years and the challenge to this was led all the way by Action 4 Equality Scotland, but it is the GMB that is responsible for the mess their members find themselves in over these poor offers of settlement.   

My understanding is that the GMB and/or its legal advisers claim this was down to a national policy of the union, but what difference does that make because it was obviously a badly mistaken policy which the GMB had time to change (as other unions did) by following A4ES's lead.

Not only that it raises the question as to why the union's legal advisers did not consult union members over the potential impact of such a wrongheaded policy on the potential value of their individual equal pay claims.

If you ask me it's difficult not to come to the conclusion that a conflict of interest was a real issue in these cases and that the interests of the union, as an institution, were placed above those of individual members - members who had been paying their union contributions for years.    

So the whole situation is a real mess although one of the GMB's own making and the big question is whether the union can put things right, quickly.

Or do their members have to complain even more forcefully about the deplorable way in which they have been represented? 

NLC Update (19/07/15)

4 Sum of Discount

My reading of this figure is that the GMB has been discussing with North Lanarkshire Council a 45% discount (saving to the Council) for settling their members equal pay claims.

Now quite why the GMB didn't reject this proposal out of hand is beyond me and I'm amazed that the GMB had the gall to put such an insulting figure to its members.

A 'discount' might make sense if there are still arguable issues in dispute or if the employer is seeking a discount for early settlement, but North Lanarkshire has been dragging its feet on these cases for years.

So why would people give up nearly half their claim - this makes no sense whatsoever.  

I am also told by a reliable source inside the Council that the discount figure being suggested for GMB members is much higher that the one used for all the other claimants from Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. confirmation of the size of the discount, as a percentage of the total offer 
2. an explanation as to why the GMB and/or the Council believes this to be a reasonable offer
3. confirmation of whether the percentage discount is much higher than that used by other claimants in the equal pay dispute with North Lanarkshire Council

All in all this is even more evidence of a completely lousy offer which is 'diddling' the GMB members in North Lanarkshire twice over.

First of all the GMB stupidly restricts their claims to only 3 years instead of 8 - then the  Council adds insult to injury by suggesting that GMB members give up almost half of their claims by way of an impossible-to-justify discount.

I'm tempted to say that 'you couldn't make it up', but clearly someone has and it's pretty obvious that between them the GMB and North Lanarkshire Council have made a real hash of things.

NLC Update (17/07/15)

3 Sum of Interest

Now this is a peculiar figure because the papers I have seen do not explain what period this sum of interest actually covers.

Nor do the papers explain the percentage rate of interest to compensate people for the fact that they should have been paid this money years ago. 

I am also told by a reliable source within North Lanarkshire Council that the figure used in respect of GMB claimants is much less than the one used for all the other claimants from Action 4 Equality Scotland, Fox and Partners Solicitors, Unison and Unite.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. confirmation of the period over which interest is being paid
2. confirmation of the percentage rate of interest used to calculate the Sum of Interest
3. confirmation of whether the percentage rate of interest is lower than that used by other claimants in the equal pay dispute with North Lanarkshire Council

I suspect that the answers to these questions will show that the relevant figures are based on only a three-year claim when, for example, the claims of Action 4 Equality Scotland clients covered the full eight-year period between January 2007 and March 2015.

In other words it looks as if GMB in North Lanarkshire members are being offered only a small fraction of the 'true' value of their claims.

NLC Update (13/07/15)

2 Sum of Balance after HMRC

Nowhere in the papers I have seen is this figure explained and nor is there any reference to the fact that not everyone pays tax and/or National Insurance contributions?

Another issue which is not referred to or explained is that of pension entitlement which is important because any employee who is near retirement age or who may be retiring on the grounds of ill-health, could benefit hugely from any settlement being linked to their pension contributions. 

Now the Council may not like this because employer's pension contributions are normally twice the amount of and employee's pension contributions and there are tax implications as well.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. a detailed explanation as to how this figure is calculated
2. the figure to be recalculated to take pension contributions into account
3. confirmation that any 'final' figure is personalised and is not making general assumptions about tax and National Insurance  

Otherwise union members run the risk of taking a potentially life-changing decisions on the basis of inadequate information.

NLC Update (12/07/15)

1 Sum of Principle Amount

Now this appears to be the gross value of the settlement offer from North Lanarkshire Council, but nowhere does the GMB explain how this figure is calculated.

So if I were a GMB member I would ask for:

1. a detailed breakdown of the figure
2. an explanation of how the figure is calculated
3. confirmation of the period covered by the settlement offer
4. confirmation of the male comparators used to determine the difference in pay between male and female council jobs 

Because only then will GMB members be in a position to evaluate this offer, or any future offers, properly although to be honest the union and its advisers ought to be doing this for local GMB members - by giving them clear advice on whether to accept or reject the proposed settlement.

As things stand GMB members seem to be getting offered a settlement which is worth only a fraction, perhaps a small fraction, of the 'true' value of their equal pay claims against North Lanarkshire Council.