Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Here are two posts from the blog site archive which relate to NLC's job evaluation (JE) review. Now as far as I know, no further posts have been brought into the review in spite of the developments at the Employment Tribunals. For the life of me I can't understand the local trade unions and their DIY approach to equal pay which puts the onus on individual members to raise issues instead of the TUs taking the initiative on their members' behalf.  As I said back in June 2016 - "Why have a dog and bark yourself?" No doubt trade members in North Lanarkshire are scratching their heads and asking what they pay their union fees for - if they have to represent themselves.     **STOP PRESS** (16/06/16) A kind reader has sent me the following statement which appeared on the Facebook page of the Unison North Lanarkshire Branch earlier today, apparently. EQUAL PAY RELATED JOB EVALUATION "Last week the outcome of some job re-evaluatio...

If trade union members in North Lanarkshire are being encouraged to look after their own interest when it comes to job evaluation, maybe they should ask for a reduction in their union fees.     Can I Have My Money Back? (August 2015) 14 August 2015 Unison contributions or membership fees operate on a sliding scale based on what people earn - £1.30 a month for a salary of up to £2,000 and a maximum of £22.50 a month for those earning over £35,000 a year. The 5th point on this scale is £7.85 a month which is paid by members earning £11,001 to £14,000 a year - and that seems like a reasonable figure to use as the contribution Unison members pay on average in your average Unison branch. So let's apply that figure to Unison in South Lanarkshire and calculate how much the union has collected or earned in contributions from members in places like Hamilton, East Kilbride, Rutherglen and Lanark over the past 14 years.   Now I'm using 14 years for a good ...

I watched BBC's Question Time last week as a young woman, Cat Boyd, made a complete fool of herself by revealing that she had failed to vote in the great EU referendum. "Technically, I was out of the country" explained Cat to a live TV audience, as if she had never heard of postal or proxy voting in the most significant political event of recent years. At the time I thought this was just a one-off, but here is Cat again in the pages of The National cheerfully extolling the virtues of living in Cuba's one-party state under what she clearly regards as a 'benevolent' dictatorship. Strange that a 'socialist' should espouse such nonsense, but for a more sober and balanced view of Castro's Cuba read the following article by Zoe Williams in The Guardian and Sean O'Grady in The Independent.   Apparently, Cat studied politics at university and stood for election to the Scottish Parliament in 2016, but managed to win just 1% of the vote in G...

Donald Trump's idea of 'draining the swamp' in Washington DC is to appoint a career politician, Tom Price, to act as his new Health Secretary. Mr Price has been a Republican senator since 2005 and is currently the chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, having served previously as chairman of the Republican Study Committee and Republican Policy Committee.   Before his election to the Federal Government in Washington Mr Price was a member of the Georgia Senate for ten years between 1996-2005.       Down with Nepotism! (12/11/16)  Getty Images - Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner After campaigning on a platform of 'down with global elites' the BBC reports that Donald Trump has named three of his children and his son-in-law to the transitional team preparing for his inauguration as President of the United States (POTUS). Who knows where it will all end, but the ...

A reader from North Lanarkshire has sent me the following enquiry regarding equal pay: Hi Mark, I am after your advice on employees who started after the initial wave of equal pay disputes but are within the backdated dates of the new pay scale.  I started with NLC in October 2015 as a Home Support Worker but have been discriminated against, in my view, of equal pay from my start date to June 2016.  I can't understand why anyone who started after the initial equal pay dispute should be penalised after the results of  the independent job evaluation graded the role as a band 7.  Surely then all employees should have been backdated till April 2015, if this is not then do we not have an equal pay case for that period? I would be grateful for any advice you can give me at this point. Thanking you B Now I haven't seen anything in writing to explain North Lanarkshire's position on this issue, but if the reader is correct the Council is a...

Action 4 Equality Scotland has been unable to contact the following clients in Falkirk regarding their equal pay settlements: Agnes Barr Julie Calder Now it's likely that the individuals concerned have changed address with advising the A4ES office of their new contact details. So if any readers in Falkirk are in touch with Agnes or Julie, please ask them to get in touch with A4ES as soon as possible:  enquiries@action4equality.co.uk    Otherwise their equal pay settlements will remain with the Council which would be a terrible shame after all the effort that's gone into resolving their long-standing claims.    

Len McCluskey is an arrogant tosser, if you ask me. Because Len's always banging on about other people's leadership abilities while conveniently ignoring the fact that he led Unite members at the giant Ineos plant in Grangemouth into a crazy, politically motivated strike that almost cost them their jobs and left the workforce on poorer terms and conditions than those they enjoyed before the dispute began. The Sunday Herald reports that Len is none too impressed with Kezia Dugdale, as leader of the Scottish Labour Party, as if the Unite boss is speaking from a position of strength.    But as we all know people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.       http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14930685.Unite_boss_McCluskey_savages_Dugdale_over_leadership_of_Scottish_Labour/ Unite boss McCluskey savages Dugdale over leadership of Scottish Labour By  Andrew Whitaker  - The Sunday Herald THE leader...