Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

Here's another interesting minute from Glasgow City Council's executive committee which records a number issues in relation to the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR) in December 2007. The most interesting aspect of the EC minute relates to the 1,980 council employees who were 'in detriment' or who lost out after the WPBR was introduced in 2007 although I understand the final figure was significantly higher. Now as regular readers know Glasgow City Council had previously given former bonus earning jobs a cast-iron  guarantee  that their higher earnings (prior to the WPBR) would be maintained  even after  the introduction of job evaluation. The effect of which was to ensure that the big pay gap between male and female council remained largely in place since the women's jobs had never been brought into line with their 'comparators' and the bonus related pay of the men. Even though the original aim of the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay)...

Here's a great story from The Independent which highlights the practical difficulties involved in Donald Trump's plan to build a 'big, beautiful wall' between Mexico and America.  The penny seems to have dropped that placing the 'Great Wall of Trump' on the American side of the Rio Grande would effectively cede control of this great, historic river to Mexico which would not go down too well for obvious reasons. Nor does it seem likely, or even possible, that Donald Trump's wall could be built in the middle of a busy river channel. Yet again the wild rhetoric Trump employed during the presidential election campaign is coming up against the reality of getting things done in government. Maybe the business tycoon should have paid more attention to his Scottish roots and the words of our national poet Robert Burns in his famous poem 'To a Mouse'.     http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-interior...

The Guardian carried two excellent reports on the political unrest in Russia where peaceful protests are being met with intimidation, arrests and jail sentences. Makes you wonder what lies behind Donald Trump's admiration for Vladimir Putin who is just about the only world leader whom the American President has consistently showered with praise. A 'free press' no longer exists in Russia, of course, and the bulk of the media is now effectively under state control.     https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/26/opposition-leader-alexei-navalny-arrested-amid-protests-across-russia Opposition leader Alexei Navalny detained amid protests across Russia Crowds gather in cities to protest against corruption in largest anti-government rallies for five years, with hundreds held By  Shaun Walker and Alec Luhn  - The Guardian Hundreds of protesters have been detained by riot police in cities across Russia , as some of the largest anti-government ...

While the country waits with baited breath on the outcome of Ken Livingstone's disciplinary hearing for allegedly bringing the Labour Party into disrepute, a wag on Twitter (Dai Lama) imagines how Ken would fare on a visit to Battersea Dogs Home     Labour in Denial (01/05/16) The Labour Party has been plunged into crisis because of a stupid, yet deliberate attempt by Ken  Livingstone (one of Jeremy Corbyn's closest allies) to claim that Adolf Hitler was a Zionist. On top of that, Ken went on to share his view that someone can only be anti-semitic if they hate all Jews across the world, not just those living in Israel. Noe there's been some powerful writing over the weekend about the background to this latest Labour farce and here are there examples from The Scotsman, The Observer and The Independent newspapers.    I think that the piece by Andrew Grice (Independent) is perhaps the most factual and even...