Glasgow and Equal Pay

The leader of the opposition in Glasgow City Council, Cllr Susan Aitken, issued a 'clean-up call' over the way in which the council has been run in recent years.

Here's an extract of what Councillor Aitken had to say:

“One of our first acts would be to appoint an independent expert, who would be mandated to look into the running of every department and speak to staff working at every level with no threat of political interference.

“It would be a root-and-branch review of how each department is run, how decisions have been made and how relations between officers and elected politicians are conducted.

“If outdated or inappropriate working practices have become embedded over the years we want to find out about them early, and address them, so that we could start with a clean slate. We would throw open the doors of the city chambers and let the light shine in.'

Now that's a welcome change if you ask me, but the move was airily dismissed by the City Council's chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell who said:

“The council has robust governance and scrutiny procedures in place which are commended by Audit Scotland. We have an extensive programme of both internal and external audits carried out on an annual basis — and our audit and scrutiny committees are chaired by senior SNP councillors.” 

Now the funny thing is that when Cllr Frank McAveety was elected Glasgow Labour leader back in 1998 leader one of the first thing he did was to set up the Glasgow City Council Public Standards Commission.

I should know because I was one of the commission's three independent, external advisers in my capacity as Unison's Head of Local Government and chief negotiator in Scotland. 

Almost 20 years on the SNP has taken a leaf out of Labour's book which is a smart move if you ask me. 

  

Glasgow and Equal Pay (10/01/17)

I said in a recent post that I know the Labour leader of Glasgow City Council, Frank McAveety, from 'way back' and I promised more details would follow. 

Well the connection goes back to 1998 when I was invited by the then Labour Leader of the City Council to act as one of three independent advisers to the Glasgow City Council Public Standards Commission.

At the time I was Unison's Head of Local Government in Scotland and the other two independent advisers were Endell Laird, retired editor of the Daily Record newspaper, and a chap named Alan Alexander, who was a well known academic and professor of local government. 

The Glasgow Public Standards Commission was set up because of a series of damaging scandals within the City Council involving the conduct of local councillors and our job was to help the Council clear up its act which we did by offering impartial (unpaid) advice and, in my case, by banging heads together in a series of very lively meetings attended by senior officials and the elected politicians.

The leader of the City Council back in those days was, of course, none other than Cllr Frank McAveety who left Glasgow the following year in 1999 after being elected as an MSP to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

Frank McAveety subsequently lost his MSP seat, but has since made a political comeback, first as a local councillor and now as Council Leader once again, almost 20 years later.

So Cllr McAveety and I know each other, as they say, and while we're not the 'best of friends' l think he knows me well enough to appreciate that I'm determined to get the job done when it comes to Glasgow and the fight for equal pay. 
   

  

Glasgow and Equal Pay(08/01/17)

I sent a copy of my post about the fight for equal pay in Glasgow to the Leader of the City Council, Councillor Frank McAveety whom I know from way back (more on that subject to follow).

Now I didn't ask Councillor McAveety for a response, but I am interested in hearing from some of the thousands of equal pay claimants in Glasgow because the more people who get involved in the campaign the sooner this will all be over.

'People Make Glasgow' is the city's latest slogan and in this case 'people power' is going to make all the difference in persuading the Council to come to its senses.

  

Glasgow and Equal Pay (06/01/17)

Readers in Glasgow are in touch regularly to ask what kind of equal pay campaign will get underway in the weeks ahead.

Well that's something I will give detailed thought to over the festive season, but here is a 'starter for ten' as the say ion University Challenge:

• Issue a detailed public statement explaining the basis of the dispute
• Highlight Glasgow's position as the only major council in Scotland not to have reached agreement with A4ES over its post-job evaluation pay arrangements.
• Arrange to brief the Leader of the Opposition Group on Glasgow City Council and individual councillors who may have been kept in the dark by the current council leadership.
• Arrange to brief all MSPs and MPs within the boundaries of Glasgow City Council who are all SNP politicians 
• Organise a series of local meetings across the city to encourage the 5,500 A4ES clients in Glasgow to get involved in the campaign
• Assist equal pay claimants in Glasgow to get their message across by lobbying local councillors, Holyrood MSPs and Westminster MPs
• Organise case studies for the local media including The Herald, Evening Times, Daily Record etc
• Organise a major advertising campaign across Glasgow in the run-up to the May 2017 council elections
• Consider standing an 'Equal Pay' candidate in one or more key Glasgow constituencies
• Seek a meeting with Nicola Sturgeon (First Minister) as a Glasgow MSP to discuss how she and the SNP Government can help hold Glasgow to account

If readers have any ideas or suggestions to make, then fire away by dropping me a line at: markirvine@compuserve.com markirvine@compuserve.com 

Remember, 'many hands make light work' and the more people who get involved in the campaign the sooner this will all be over.