Mark Irvine - Blogger, Campaigner, Organiser

I have been delving into Glasgow's post WPBR pay arrangements and came across a document that goes into some details about the Employee Development Commitment ((EDC) a scheme that set out to maintain the higher pay of the male dominated former bonus earning groups - compared to their female colleagues whose jobs were clearly of 'equal value' to the men. Here's an extract of one document   which explains how the EDC operated, but the important point to remember is that pay was not 'equalised' before the scheme was introduced and so the jobs of low paid women were not treated in the same way as their male colleagues.  " A series of interventions have been commissioned by the Council from Hays to support the pragmatic implementation of the EDC. "The EDC is: “The Council is committed to assisting all employees with Protected Status, who are in a loss of earnings position following the implementation of the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review to devel...

I came across this Labour Party video recently and my immediate reaction was that while it pays tribute to events surrounding 'Made in Dagenham', the behaviour of big Labour councils such as Glasgow, North Lanarkshire or South Lanarkshire have been completely ignored. Fine words butter no parsnips, as the saying goes, and I think it's fair to say that the worst offenders when it comes to pay discrimination against low paid women workers have been the big Labour controlled councils in Scotland. If you ask me, they deserve their comeuppance at the local council elections on 4th May 2017.      Made in Dagenham (16 November 2011) In case you missed it at the cinema - Made in Dagenham - a film about the fight for equal pay in 1968 is now showing on the Sky movie channel. Here's what I wrote about Made in Dagenham when it was released last year - but it is truly incredible that the same fight is having to be fought out all ov...

The New England Patriots won the American Super Bowl in 2015 and again in 2017 - on both occasions the President invited the team to the White House for a celebration and photo opportunity. But as this photograph shows far fewer accepted Donald Trump's invitation compared to those who were keen to meet President Obama.     Every Picture Tells a Story (23/01/17) Donald Trump has a well deserved reputation for being terribly thin-skinned and sensitive to personal criticism which seems to have affected other White House officials as well, if this angry rant by the new press secretary, Sean Spicer, is anything to go by. Team Trump claimed that the 2017 inauguration was the biggest ever event of its kind "period" - with Trump himself claiming that the "crowds went all the way back to the Washington monument" when in fact this was clearly not true. Every picture tells as story, as they say, and this photo of President Obama's inauguration in 200...

The great American comedian WC Fields gave good advice when he said 'never work with animals or children'. But Willie Rennie may be the exception that proves the rule because this photo of Willie wrestling with a giant ram has appeared everywhere and given the Lib Dem leader in Scotland the kind of exposure that money can't buy.    

The Independent reports that a young man in Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to death for voicing his rejection of Islam and the Prophet Mohammed. Bit of a stretch to see how this squares with the often stated claim that Islam is a 'religion of peace' - not least because Saudi Arabia is the religion's spiritual home.     http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-man-sentenced-death-atheism-ahmad-al-shamri-hafar-al-batin-appeal-denied-a7703161.html Man ‘sentenced to death for atheism’ in Saudi Arabia Man identified by local media as Ahmad Al-Shamri, in his 20s, lost two appeals after being arrested on charges of blasphemy for social media videos in which he denounced the Prophet Mohammed By  Bethan McKernan  - The Independent al-Sharq newspaper's initial report on the arrest of man identified as Ahmad Al Shamri for apostasy and blasphemy in 2014 A man in Saudi Arabia has reportedly been sentenced to death on charges of apo...