North Lanarkshire Update

I have now written to Scotland's First Minister to alert Nicola Sturgeon to the latest foot-dragging antics of Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council in relation to equal pay.

As regular readers know the elected politicians and senior officials in charge of North Lanarkshire Council have been making a terrible mess of equal pay for years.

The latest debacle over the Council's job evaluation (JE) review goes back to 1 April 2015, yet after all this time NLC is still not in a position to release the backpay that its long-suffering Home Support workers are due.

I think it's fair to say that if this 'cockamamy' Labour-run council were operating in the private sector, heads would have rolled long before now.

 

Cockamamy Council (30/09/16)

Here's a copy of an email I have circulated to all MSPs and MPs who have local constituencies within the boundaries of Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council.

As ever, in the fight for equal pay 'many hands make light work' and the more people who help turn up the heat on this cockamamy Labour council - the sooner we will get this issue resolved.

I have also sent the email and blog post to Scotland's First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, albeit for information only at this stage.

 

Dear MSP/MP

North Lanarkshire and Equal Pay

I enclose for your information a copy of the latest post to my blog site regarding Labour-run North Lanarkshire Council and the fight for equal pay.

I am sure that local constituents will be in touch to ask for your assistance in persuading North Lanarkshire Council to 'get its finger out' as this is a very big issue for the many hundreds of employees involved.

Kind regards

Mark Irvine

CC - Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland (for information)

 

North Lanarkshire Update

I'm afraid to say that Labour-led North Lanarkshire seems to be sliding back into its old ways, despite recent claims that the Council is under new, improved leadership.

Because for weeks NLC has been saying that pay information would be delivered to A4ES by the end of September 2016, so that Home Support workers could receive their backpay arising from the Council's very late-running job evaluation (JE) review.

But Labour-led North Lanarkshire is now reneging on that commitment and, to add insult to injury, the Council is unwilling or unable to say when this process will finally be concluded.

Which is a complete disgrace if you ask me - a clear case of senior council officials and Labour politicians treating the workforce with ill-disguised contempt.

Now the payments due to NLC employees are a full-blown contractual entitlement and so A4ES, in conjunction with our lawyers (HBJ Gateley), will be making a formal complaint over this latest NLC 'foot-dragging behaviour in relation to equal pay.

As ever individual claimants and A4ES clients can help persuade the Council of the need to get its finger out and finally resolve this long running issue by:

1. Writing to the NLC chief executive Paul Jukes at: jukesp@northlan.gov.uk
2. Writing to the Labour leader of the Council, Councillor Jim Logue at: loguej@northlan.gsx.gov.uk
3. Contacting the opposition SNP leader of NLC, Councillor David Stocks at: stocksd@northlan.gsx.gov.uk 
4. Raising the council's behaviour with local Holyrood MSPs - details to follow
5. Raising the council's behaviour with local Westminster MP's - details to follow
6. Contacting and complaining to the local newspapers - details to follow

I will also have a look at the official NLC diary and see if we can arrange a suitable protest at a future full Council meeting which the media will be invited to attend, of course.
     
I also notice that Scotland's First Minister was in Motherwell earlier today to formally reopen the Dalzell steel plant and, as regular readers know, Nicola Sturgeon has previously stated that her government will take tough action against councils who are dragging their feet over equal pay.

So given this latest North Lanarkshire debacle, I will send the First Minister a copy of my blog post and may ask her officials to become more actively involved, depending how things pan out in the next few days.

In the meantime let's turn the heat up on this 'cockamamy' Labour council which as readers know has been making a terrible dog's dinner of equal pay - for the past 17 years. 

 

North Lanarkshire Update (19/09/16)

I still get emails on an daily basis asking if Home Carers in North Lanarkshire will receive their JE review 'backpay' by the end of September 2016.

Now the honest answer is that I don't know for sure because this requires North Lanarkshire Council to pass on the relevant financial information which has to be checked carefully prior to letters being sent out to individual A4ES clients.

So assuming that this process is concluded before the end of September, A4ES will be able to turn things around and get individual letters out to all NLC clients within the space of a few days.

As soon as there is a firm date or timescale, I will share the details on the blog site.

 

North Lanarkshire Update (06/09/16)

I continue to receive lots of enquiries via email and Facebook about North Lanarkshire's job evaluation (JE) review - far too many for me to answer on an individual basis.

Now as regular readers know, the JE review was conducted by the Council and the trade unions and if I remember correctly, it was accepted that other jobs could be reviewed going forward.

In effect the baton was passed to the trade unions, but Action 4 Equality Scotland continued the fight on behalf of Sheltered Housing Wardens, Clerical Assistants and Classroom Assistants in the Glasgow Employment Tribunal (ET).

The A4ES clients involved in the ongoing Glasgow ET hearing eventually won the argument to have their JE scores and grades matched to higher paid male comparators which resulted in a much more favourable settlement of their equal pay claims.

But the tribunal outcome affects only the individual clients of A4ES and the three job categories involved were not included in the recent NLC job evaluation (JE) review, primarily because the ET hearing was still underway. 

My understanding of the JE review is that other NLC jobs can still be brought into the process, if a strong case could be made on behalf of particular groups - a test which must surely be satisfied as far as Sheltered Housing Wardens, Clerical Assistants and Classroom Assistants are concerned. 

So if I were a Sheltered Housing Warden, a Clerical Assistant or a Classroom Assistant I'd be asking asking the Council via my trade union when they are going to review the scores and grades of these three jobs - given that the ball is now well and truly in their court.

 

North Lanarkshire Update(01/09/16)

I've had lots of enquiries about backpay and the NLC job evaluation (JE) review which I have written about regularly on the blog site for the past year and more.

Here are two posts (one from May 2015 and the other from June 2016) which explain the background to the JE review and the fact that only a limited number of posts were covered by the review in the first place.

 

North Lanarkshire Update (23/05/15)

Lots of readers have been in touch to ask about the re-evaluation of various jobs in North Lanarkshire Council which has been prompted by the council being forced to concede at the Employment Tribunal that a number of female dominated jobs had not been assessed and graded correctly back in 2006/07.

As part of the equal pay settlement it was agreed by all the parties that the process of carrying out a further job evaluation would be down to the council and the trade unions.

Now that is quite sensible because while Action 4 Equality Scotland (A4ES) has led the fight for equal pay in North Lanarkshire all these years, the council (management and councillors) along with the unions make up the permanent collective bargaining structures in North Lanarkshire.

Part of the agreement is that A4ES will be kept fully informed about what's going on and how the council and the unions intend to tackle the problems that clearly exist within the present grading structure.

Apparently the unions have issued some limited information on the process which says that the following jobs will be subject to further evaluation:  

• Playground Supervisors
• School Crossing Patrollers
• Home Support Workers

• Road Sweepers
• Refuse Collectors
• Gardeners at grades 4 and 5
• Chargehand Gardeners at grade 6

Now the list contains only the three female dominated jobs which were originally identified at the Employment Tribunal hearing.

Other employees such as Admin and Clerical Workers and Classroom Assistants, for example, may have a case to argue that their jobs and factor scores should be reviewed as well which could be done by bringing a group of such workers together to look in detail at the existing job description and individual factor scores.

Now this would also require a proper look at the male jobs to compare what scores these jobs have been awarded under all the different factor headings to ensure consistency and that jobs are not being treated in isolation.

As I've said before on the blog site what would help this process is maximum transparency and openness which could be achieved by putting all of this information on the Council's web site, for example, where everyone could see what is going on and have the opportunity to comment if they wish.

Over the coming weeks I'll do my best to answer people's questions and requests for information on the blog site, so watch this space.

NLC JE Review (12/06/16)

I submitted a freedom of information (FoI) request to North Lanarkshire Council on Friday (10 May) asking for details of the report to the Policy and Resources Committee on the Council's late-running job evaluation (JE) review.

But later that day a helpful contact from within the Council sent me a copy of the report and here is a summary of the main outcomes as far as JE is concerned.

Claimant Jobs

Home Support Workers - Existing Grade NLC 3, New Grade NLC 7

School Crossing Patrollers - Existing Grade NLC 2, New Grade NLC 3

Playground Supervisors - Existing Grade NLC 2, New Grade NLC 2 (no change)


Male Comparator Jobs

Road Sweeper - Existing Grade NLC 2, New Grade NLC 3

Refuse Collector - Existing Grade NLC 4, New Grade NLC 4

Gardener (4) - Existing Grade NLC 4, New Grade NLC 5

Gardener (5) - Existing Grade NLC 5, New Grade NLC 5

Chargehand Gardener - Existing Grade NLC 6, New Grade NLC 7

So two out of three claimant jobs have seen their grades increase (notably the Home Carers) and three out of five male comparator jobs and the new grades will be backdated to 1 April 2015.

However lots of predominantly female job groups have been left out of the JE review which will, I suspect, make many people very angry.

So the trade unions have a lot of explaining to do especially to fee-paying members who have been excluded from the review process.