Glasgow's Pay Arrangements
Here's a post from the blog site archive which underlines the importance of understanding exactly how male jobs were treated under Glasgow City Council's WPBR (Workforce Pay and Benefits Review).
Because the City Council's Employee Development Commitment (EDC) gave a guarantee that the higher earnings of former bonus earning (male) jobs would be maintained into the future - beyond the normal three year protection period.
Now before the WPBR was introduced a Home Carer was on a higher grade (MW5) than than a Gravedigger (MW3) and the City Council has been forced to concede since that the big pay difference between the two jobs could never be justified.
So before the WPBR was introduced the women should have had their pay brought into line with the higher pay of their male comparators on the basis that they were carrying out work of a at least 'equal value' to the men.
Yet that did not happen and the City Council's pay protection scheme and its EDC scheme benefited only the 'red circled' or former bonus earning jobs which is the big issue that now has to be resolved.
The problem is that the City Council's pay arrangements are the opposite of open, honest and transparent - and while there may be a new political leadership in Glasgow the council's senior officials and advisers are singing the same tune as before under the old, discredited Labour administration.
In fact Glasgow is behaving in a very similar way to both North Lanarkshire Council and South Lanarkshire Council where I compared the 'before' and 'after' effect of new pay arrangements to a game of Snakes and Ladders - where all the men's jobs landed on a 'ladder' and all the women's jobs landed on a 'snake'.
Glasgow's Pay Arrangements (03/05/17)
The letter is from GCC's Director of Land Services to the Head of Corporate Human Resources (at the time Robert Booth and Norma Aird) and is dated October 2006.
Here's what the letter said:
Gravediggers's Recruitment and Retention
"Authorisation is sought herewith for the application of recruitment and retention payment under the Workforce Pay and Benefits package in respect of the Council's gravediggers.
"You will appreciate the sensitive nature of this aspect of service deliver and I have previously indicated the mood of the workforce which casts serious doubt on the prospects of retention for this group of staff. Loss of this experienced resource would eradicate the Councils capacity to maintain service. The resultant adverse publicity and the prospect of public concern in relation to burials must be remedied.
"Accordingly, I should be pleased if you would give consideration to the inclusion of a long term recruitment and retention payment for the employees."
Now this is wrong on all kinds of levels if you ask me, because even before the WPBR has been introduced a senior council official is requesting 'long term recruitment and retention payment' for just one group of staff - a high earning, traditional male group earning big bonuses .
The reason seems to be the possibility of losing staff, but of course the very same argument could be made just as easily on behalf of many other female dominated groups providing essential services as well such as Home Carers, for example.
And this would also help to explain the strange movement in Gravediggers pay which I shared on the blog site recently.
Always remembering that Home Carers were on a much higher grade than Gravediggers (MW 5 to MW3) before the introduction of the WPBR and on the same Grade 3 level after the new WPBR pay arrangements came into play in 2006/07.
Which begs the obvious question: "What could possibly justify the women workers receiving much less favourable treatment than their male colleagues?"
Glasgow's Home Carers (20/03/17)
I attended an excellent meeting of Glasgow Home Carers in Govanhill last Friday to discuss the ongoing campaign to hold Glasgow City Council to account over equal pay.
All of the usual topics were covered including:
- the importance of claimants contacting their MSPs and MPs for support
- the use of freedom of information (FoI) requests to uncover the City Council's post-WPBR pay arrangements
- the forthcoming appeal hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh on 25 to 27 April and 2 to 5 May 2017
- the level of bonus payments in male dominated jobs and the guarantee given by the City Council that these earnings would be maintained (in response to a strike threat by the trade unions)
The pay information has been provided to me in response to an FoI request and shows the earnings of the Gravedigger as £22,845.40 (excluding overtime) in 2007 - £11,986 in basic salary and £10,859.40 in 'additional payments' the bulk of which I suspect had to be earned via bonus payments.
Now take nothing away from the council Gravedigger because they work hard and do an essential jobs like lots of other council staff, but how can it be that Home Carers (on the much higher grade of MW5) are not worth at least the same pay?
Shift working can't account for the pay difference because Home Carers in Glasgow typically work a 'split shift' which means they work for 5 hours (8am to 1pm) and have an unpaid break for three hours before returning to complete another 5 hour shift later in the day (4pm to 10pm).
Split shift working is the most onerous of all shift stems if you ask me, because unlike other workers the whole day revolves around your job and people are not really done with their work until late in the evening.
Yet for this huge inconvenience to their lives Home Carers are worth thousands of pounds less than a council Gravedigger which sounds very unfair to me.
Another meeting in Govanhill is planned for next Monday and some of the local politicians will be present which is good news if you ask me, because so far I haven't witnessed too many Glasgow MSPs and MPs speaking out in support of the fight for equal pay with the Labour-led City Council.
Glasgow and Equal Pay (27/03/17)
As regular readers know, I submitted a series of FoI requests to Glasgow City Council back in February 2017 and after a bit of a tussle I finally got a reply which made for very interesting reading.
So here's an extract from the information the City Council supplied which shows the pay of a Gravedigger between 2005 and 2010, i.e. before and after the period during which Glasgow introduced a new local job evaluation (JE) scheme known as the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review)
Now going into the WPBR it's worth pointing out that a Home Carer, for example, was on a much higher grade (MW5 in 'old money') than a council Gravedigger who was two grades lower on MW3.
Glasgow City Council Gravedigger (MW3)
2005
£ 21,910.97 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 11,409.00 (basic salary)
£ 10,501.97 (difference - largely down to bonus pay)
£ 12.04 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2006
£ 15,915.44 (annual earnings excluding overtime - unexplained drop, could be rogue figure)
£ 11,695.00 (basic salary)
£ 4,220.44 (difference - largely down to bonus pay)
£ 8.74 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2007
£ 22,845.40 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 11,986.00 (basic salary)
£ 10,859.40 (difference - largely down to bonus pay)
£ 12.55 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2008
£ 22,032.00 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 14,665.00 (basic salary)
£ 7,367.00 (difference - largely down to bonus pay)
£ 12.11 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2009
£ 23,006.00 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 16,925.00 (basic salary)
£ 6,081.00 (difference - largely down to bonus pay)
£ 12.64 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2010
£ 23,349.48 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 17,035.00 (basic salary)
£ 6,934.48 (difference - largely down to bonus pay)
£ 12.83 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
The 'Annual Earnings' and 'Basic Salary' figures are taken directly from the Council's FOI response - although I have added the annual difference in pay and calculated an hourly rate of pay based on a 35 hour week.
But whatever way you 'slice snd dice' the outcome two things are crystal clear:
- Female dominated jobs were being paid thousands of pounds a year less than their male colleagues - even when the women's jobs were on the same or a higher grade
- The big pay gap between male and female jobs continued after the introduction of job evaluation and the City Council's WPBR
Much more to follow in the days ahead including pay details of other male jobs and, for comparative purposes, the pay details of some of the female dominated jobs such as Home Carers.
2005
£ 21,910.97 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 12.04 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2006
£ 15,915.44 (annual earnings excluding overtime - unexplained drop, could be rogue figure)
£ 8.74 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2007
£ 22,845.40 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 12.55 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2008
£ 22,032.00 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 12.11 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
2009
£ 23,006.00 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 12.64 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
£ 23,349.48 (annual earnings excluding overtime)
£ 12.83 (hourly rate of pay based on 35 hour week)
- Female dominated jobs were being paid thousands of pounds a year less than their male colleagues - even when the women's jobs were on the same or a higher grade
- The big pay gap between male and female jobs continued after the introduction of job evaluation and the City Council's WPBR
Snakes and Ladders (03/09/15)
Snakes and Ladders in SLC (04/03/2009)
Our recent meetings in South Lanarkshire have produced lots of interesting feedback from council employees. Here are a couple of some well known council jobs done mainly by women:
Cook in Charge (MW5) and Home Carer (MW5)
Both of these female jobs were graded at Manual Worker 5 (MW5) under the old, pre-Single Status job evaluation (JE) scheme.
The old JE scheme was discredited because it failed to take any account of the bonus earnings of the male jobs – everyone agreed that it badly undervalued the content of many female jobs.
Because even though the women’s jobs had a higher grade – they were actually paid much less than the men - because of hidden bonus payments to the male jobs.
Single Status and a new non-discriminatory JE scheme were supposed to put an end to this nonsense – and give the women a fairer deal.
Here are some typical male dominated council jobs - along with their old Manual Worker grades:
Gravedigger (MW3)
Road Worker (MW3/4)
Gardener ((MW4)
Refuse Driver (MW4)
All of these male jobs had less content or ‘value’ than their female colleagues – which is why they were placed on lower grades than the Cook-in Charge and Home Carer.
So under a new improved and fairer JE scheme – you would expect the female jobs to still come out on top – or fare even better.
But what has actually happened in South Lanarkshire – is that the female jobs have all been leapfrogged by the men – here are the new Single Status pay arrangements (at 2007/08 pay rates).
Home Carer (SCP 1– 16 = £6.65 to £7.27 per hour)
Cook-in-Charge (SCP 10–16 = £5.81 to £7.27 per hour)
Gravedigger (SCP 18–25 = £7.48 to £8.31 per hour)
Road Worker (SCP 1-31 = £8.31 to £8.69 per hour)
Gardener (SCP 25–28 = £8.31 to £8.69 per hour)
Refuse Driver (SCP 25–28 = £8.31 to £8.69 per hour)
The point is that if Single Status in South Lanarkshire were a game of snakes and ladders – the women's jobs have somehow landed on all the snakes – while the male jobs have miraculously managed to find all the ladders!
Watch this space - more to follow.
Cook in Charge (MW5) and Home Carer (MW5)
Both of these female jobs were graded at Manual Worker 5 (MW5) under the old, pre-Single Status job evaluation (JE) scheme.
The old JE scheme was discredited because it failed to take any account of the bonus earnings of the male jobs – everyone agreed that it badly undervalued the content of many female jobs.
Because even though the women’s jobs had a higher grade – they were actually paid much less than the men - because of hidden bonus payments to the male jobs.
Single Status and a new non-discriminatory JE scheme were supposed to put an end to this nonsense – and give the women a fairer deal.
Here are some typical male dominated council jobs - along with their old Manual Worker grades:
Gravedigger (MW3)
Road Worker (MW3/4)
Gardener ((MW4)
Refuse Driver (MW4)
All of these male jobs had less content or ‘value’ than their female colleagues – which is why they were placed on lower grades than the Cook-in Charge and Home Carer.
So under a new improved and fairer JE scheme – you would expect the female jobs to still come out on top – or fare even better.
But what has actually happened in South Lanarkshire – is that the female jobs have all been leapfrogged by the men – here are the new Single Status pay arrangements (at 2007/08 pay rates).
Home Carer (SCP 1– 16 = £6.65 to £7.27 per hour)
Cook-in-Charge (SCP 10–16 = £5.81 to £7.27 per hour)
Gravedigger (SCP 18–25 = £7.48 to £8.31 per hour)
Road Worker (SCP 1-31 = £8.31 to £8.69 per hour)
Gardener (SCP 25–28 = £8.31 to £8.69 per hour)
Refuse Driver (SCP 25–28 = £8.31 to £8.69 per hour)
The point is that if Single Status in South Lanarkshire were a game of snakes and ladders – the women's jobs have somehow landed on all the snakes – while the male jobs have miraculously managed to find all the ladders!
Watch this space - more to follow.
Even More Snakes and Ladders (09/09/15)
Schools have a hierarchy when it comes to pay – just like any other workplace.
The Head Teacher is at the top – and the bottom rung of the pay ladder is always occupied by the school cleaner – normally a woman on part-time hours.
In between a variety of jobs exist – some better paid than others - but there is always some kind of rationale to explain who gets what and why.
So, a support worker is always paid less than a teacher – for example.
But what about the pay hierarchy amongst support workers – the non-teaching staff – how does that work?Very oddly – like a lot of things in South Lanarkshire.
For example - a School Janitor which used to be (before Single Status) a predominantly male, Manual Worker Grade 5 job – gets paid up to SCP 33 = £9.37 an hour (at 2007/08 rates).
Yet a Classroom Assistant or School Secretary is paid between SCP 1 – 25 = £5.81 to £8.31 an hour (again at 2007/08 rates).
Even a Team Leader gets paid less than the School Janitor – because their pay scale only goes up to a maximum of £8.69 per hour.
And, as usual, many of the women’s jobs are not paid at the top of their scale.
Now no one is saying that a School Janitor does not do an important job – but how on earth can he be on a significantly higher grade and rate of pay than a Classroom Assistant or a School Secretary?
It simply beggars belief – and the female workers in South Lanarkshire should be kicking up a fuss – with their line managers, councillors and trade unions.
Because something’s not right here – no one understands the basis on which other jobs within the council are paid – many of the traditional male jobs within the council have done very nicely ‘thank you’ out of the council’s in-house job evaluation scheme.
Whereas many female dominated jobs have lost out – for reasons no one can explain – and that’s what Action 4 Equality Scotland and Stefan Cross are challenging.
More to follow – watch this space.
The Head Teacher is at the top – and the bottom rung of the pay ladder is always occupied by the school cleaner – normally a woman on part-time hours.
In between a variety of jobs exist – some better paid than others - but there is always some kind of rationale to explain who gets what and why.
So, a support worker is always paid less than a teacher – for example.
But what about the pay hierarchy amongst support workers – the non-teaching staff – how does that work?Very oddly – like a lot of things in South Lanarkshire.
For example - a School Janitor which used to be (before Single Status) a predominantly male, Manual Worker Grade 5 job – gets paid up to SCP 33 = £9.37 an hour (at 2007/08 rates).
Yet a Classroom Assistant or School Secretary is paid between SCP 1 – 25 = £5.81 to £8.31 an hour (again at 2007/08 rates).
Even a Team Leader gets paid less than the School Janitor – because their pay scale only goes up to a maximum of £8.69 per hour.
And, as usual, many of the women’s jobs are not paid at the top of their scale.
Now no one is saying that a School Janitor does not do an important job – but how on earth can he be on a significantly higher grade and rate of pay than a Classroom Assistant or a School Secretary?
It simply beggars belief – and the female workers in South Lanarkshire should be kicking up a fuss – with their line managers, councillors and trade unions.
Because something’s not right here – no one understands the basis on which other jobs within the council are paid – many of the traditional male jobs within the council have done very nicely ‘thank you’ out of the council’s in-house job evaluation scheme.
Whereas many female dominated jobs have lost out – for reasons no one can explain – and that’s what Action 4 Equality Scotland and Stefan Cross are challenging.
More to follow – watch this space.
