Glasgow - Equal Pay Update

Lots of readers from Glasgow, both existing and former GMB members, have been in touch to ask what they can do to hold the union to account for making such an awful mess of their equal pay claims.

Now the first thing to say is that for anyone who has transferred their equal pay claim to A4ES from GMB - A4ES is currently examining ways in which it can help union members who have had their equal pay claims restricted to Glasgow City Council's 'pay protection period' which ended in 2009.

In effect this restriction means that the GMB would have to re-start their members equal pay claims again in 2017 because the GMB did not support the successful A4ES led challenge to Glasgow's WPBR pay arrangements in the Court of Session.

The problem for GMB members is that a new claim can only go back 5 years in time to 2012, so GMB members with an existing equal pay claim have essentially lost 3 years of their claim between the period 2009 to 2012.

The GMB is clearly responsible for this situation though the union has tried to lay the blame at the door of its previous solicitors, Digby Brown, which the GMB has since 'sacked'.

Yet the very same problem came to light more that two years ago in North Lanarkshire Council (NLC) and even though the GMB promised action and an investigation into what went wrong, nothing further has been heard.

So if I were a GMB member, I would be writing to the union's regional secretary in Scotland to ask for a proper explanation of what actually happened and who was responsible.

Because if the GMB really does believe that its solicitors were at fault, then surely the union leadership has a duty to share this information and evidence with union members who may well have a good case to complain to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) which can compensate people who have lost out financially at the hands of their solicitors.

Why would the GMB withhold such valuable and important evidence from its own members?

On the other hand, if the GMB itself is a fault surely the union should do the right thing by admitting its error and agreeing to compensate its members for any loss they suffer, as a result of their union's incompetence.

And this is even more true in Glasgow because the union had advance notice of the debacle in North Lanarkshire which was brought to public attention by none other than - me! 

In any event Gary Smith's email address at GMB headquarters in Glasgow is: gary.smith@gmb.org.uk 

If the union is open and honest about things people will get straight answers to straight questions, but if the GMB has something to hide then I would expect angry denials and a general refusal to come clean - in which case the only recourse may be to complain to the SLCC or sue the GMB itself.

Meanwhile, if any GMB member has transferred their equal pay claim from the GMB to A4ES, the issue of holding the GMB to account is being given separate attention from taking up their equal pay claims with the Employment Tribunals.

So watch this space for further news.