Glasgow - Pay Gap Explained (2)
Here are some more Glasgow City Council Manual Worker jobs which all received handsome bonuses before the WPBR pay scheme was introduced back in 2007.
Just compare the much higher pay of these male jobs to the list I published yesterday of female dominated jobs on the same or even higher grade: Home Carer, Cook, Catering Supervisor, Bus Escort/Classroom Assistant, Cleaner.
Now I don't have any problem with council Gardeners, Road Workers, Refuse Workers Gravediggers earning a good - not least because I represented these groups as a full-time union official and in my former role as Unison's Head of Local Government in Scotland.
But the original intention of the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement was to increase the very low pay of tens of thousands of women workers whose jobs had been underpaid and undervalued for years: carers, cooks, catering staff, cleaners, clerical workers, classroom assistants and so on.
Glasgow City Council and the trade unions were signed up to this landmark equal pay agreement, yet when push came to shove they both decided to put the interests of the male dominated bonus earnings jobs first - before the interests of low paid women.
The trade unions in Glasgow even threatened industrial action if the higher earnings of the bonus earning male jobs were not guaranteed in the long-term which the City Council agreed to by introducing the Employee Development Commitment (EDC).
So the upshot is that the pay gap which existed before the WPBR was introduced in 2007 remains in place today although senior officials in Glasgow City Council are reluctant to explain exactly what happened to the pay of the Gardeners, Road Workers, Refuse Workers and Gravediggers.
Little wonder then that Court of Session concluded that the interests of the men were 'looked after' under the WPBR - a damning and unanimous judgment from Scotland's highest civil court.
Visit the blog site again tomorrow for more revelations about the pay of Glasgow's former APT&C staff who were told by the City Council and the trade unions that they did not 'qualify' for equal pay - which was a load of old baloney, of course.
Bonus Earning Former Manual Worker Jobs - prior to the WPBR
Roadworkers can be out in all weathers, but so are Home Carers as they move between one client and another, so what explains an MW1 Roadworker receiving a whopping big bonus - while a Home Carer received no bonus at all?
Post of Roadworker 1 - prior to the WPBR
Pre-WPBR Grade - MW 1
Pre-WPBR Contracted Pay - £10,938.53
Bonus Pay - £5,576.60
Total Pay - £16,515.13
And remember readers these big pay differences still exist - they have just been repackaged and disguised under Glasgow's WPBR which the Court of Session has judged to be 'unfit for purpose'.
I've met with a lot of Refuse Collectors in my time and represented their interests with employers, but the job does not demand anything like the level skill or responsibility of a Home Care worker at grade MW5 - which explains why they were graded at MW2.
Yet in Glasgow a refuse collector attracted a bonus of almost £6,000 a year.
Post of Refuse Collector (Wheelie Bins) - prior to the WPBR
Pre-WPBR Grade - MW 2
Pre-WPBR Contracted Pay - £11,307.70
Bonus Pay - £5,940.11
Total Pay - £17,247.81
The next post up is a real doozy - that of a Gardener (MW1) the lowest MW grade yet this still attracted a whopping big bonus which meant a Gardener was being paid thousands of pounds a year more than thousands of low paid women workers on the same or a higher grade.
Post of Gardener 1 - prior to the WPBR
Pre-WPBR Grade - MW 1
Pre-WPBR Contracted Pay - £10,938.53
Bonus Pay - £6,224.75
Total Pay - £17,163.28
I'm sure most the the City Council's gardeners were GMB members, by the way, so the union clearly knew what was going on and that its women members were being hugely underpaid.
The next post to be put under the equal pay spotlight in Glasgow is that of a Vehicle Workshop Operative/Driver which was grade at a lower level (MW3) than a Gravedigger, but still received a very healthy bonus.
None of the female dominated jobs received bonuses, of course.
Post of Vehicle Workshop Operative/Driver 1 - prior to the WPBR
Pre-WPBR Grade - MW 3
Pre-WPBR Contracted Pay - £11,694.60
Bonus Pay - £4,383.90
Total Pay - £16,078.50
Glasgow - Pay Gap Explained 1 (25/09/17)
Here is a selection of female dominated former 'Manual Worker' jobs in Glasgow City Council and the salaries they were paid back in 2007 - before the Council introduced new pay arrangements through its controversial Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR).
The WPBR was of course endorsed by the local trade unions who agreed a compensation scheme which capped compensation payments at a maximum of just £9,000 and excluded many groups of staff with perfectly valid claims: former APT&C Clerical Workers and School Janitors, for example.
Before the WPBR came into operation a Home Carer, for example, was on Manual Worker Grade 5 which meant that the Home Carer had an irresistible case for equal pay with a MW Grade 4 Gravedigger.
Because while the Home Carer's job was on a higher grade (MW5 compared to MW4) she was actually paid thousands of pounds a year less - £11,456.57 compared to £20,594.57 which illustrates the extent to which women's jobs had been cheated and robbed of their right to equal pay for years.
Many other female dominated jobs were in a similar position: a Roadworker on Grade MW1 was on the same £10,938.53 salary as an MW1 Council Cleaner, but the male job received a big bonus of £5,576.60 every year taking his total pay to £16,515.13
The list goes on and on: for example a Catering Supervisor on Grade MW4 being paid a total of £12,063.77 left far behind the earnings of a more lowly graded Refuse Collector on Grade MW2 whose £5,940.11 bonus took his salary to £17,247.81.
I am planning to publish other examples in the next few days which will include details about:
- More bonus earning male jobs
- Former APT&C staff such as Clerical Workers
- Non bonus earning male jobs such as School Janitors and Special Needs Drivers
A4ES took up cases on behalf of the former APT&C staff and non bonus earning male jobs while the local trade unions in Glasgow told these members they had no right to equal pay.
So watch this space.
Former Manual Worker Jobs - prior to the WPBR
Home Carer MW5
Annual Salary - £11,456.57
Bonus - Nil
Total Pay - £11,456.57
Cook MW 5
Annual Salary - £12,438.68
Bonus - Nil
Total Pay - £12,438.68
Catering Supervisor MW4
Annual Salary - £12,063.77
Bonus - Nil
Total Pay - £12,063.77
Escort (Bus) MW3
Annual Salary - £11,062.63
Bonus - Nil
Total Pay - £11,062.63
Assistant Cook (MW2)
Annual Salary - £11,307.70
Bonus - Nil
Total Pay - £11,307.70
Cleaner MW2
Annual Salary - £11,307.70
Bonus - Nil
Total Pay - £11,307.70
Domestic (Cleaner) MW1
Annual Salary - £10,938.53
Bonus - Nil
Total Pay - £10,938.53
Breaking News! (22/09/17)
Glasgow's Pay Arrangements (22/09/17)
Yet a Garage Engineer managed to earn an eye watering bonus of no less than £17,060.00 which along with other enhancements, such as shift allowance, took his total pre-WPBR pay to £31,653.74
Pre-WPBR Grade - EO 1
Pre-WPBR Contracted Pay - £14,073.36
Bonus Pay - £17,060.00
Total Pay - £31,653.74 (including other enhancements such as shift allowance)
Now that was £12,000 a year more than a highly qualified Child Development Officer was paid prior to the introduction of the WPBR.
Yet the City Council and the local trade unions agreed to exclude lots of former APT&C jobs from receiving compensation for these enormous and unjustifiable pay differences between traditional male and female jobs.
To follow - the salaries of some of the key claimant jobs so that everyone understands the size of the 'pay gap' and the extent to which women workers were denied equal pay for work of equal value in Glasgow for years and years and years.
The City Council, of course, gave a commitment (the EDC) to male workers that their bonus earnings would be 'looked after' under the WPBR and this point that was picked up by Lady Norris in the Court of Session decision which judged Glasgow's pay arrangements to be 'unfit for purpose'.
Coming Clean in Glasgow (20/09/17)
In the days ahead I plan to publish details about the pay of Glasgow City Council's 'comparator' and 'claimant' jobs - both before and after the introduction of the WPBR in 2007.
The purpose of this exercise is to highlight just how much less women were paid than their male colleagues - even when the women were on the same grade, a higher grade or palpably doing work of 'equal value' to the men.
To add insult to injury, the huge pay differences continued after the WPBR was introduced and when you look at things in the cold light of day, it's impossible to conclude anything other than the 'books were cooked' in favour of the male jobs.
How else could Gravediggers, Gardeners and other male dominated jobs be capable of earning more than their women colleagues, both before and after Glasgow's new WPBR pay arrangements came into operation?
As one of the judges, Lady Norris, put the point at the Court of Session hearing, the council clearly “looked after” the men well beyond the protection period.
In which case, everyone needs to know precisely how the men were helped and what affect this had on their pay.
Because Glasgow's women workers were clearly entitled to the same 'help' as the men and what happened to the men is the baseline for any settlement discussions.
Post of Gravedigger - prior to the WPBR
Pre-WPBR Grade - MW 4
Pre-WPBR Contracted Pay - £10,938.53
Bonus Pay - £8,503.80
Total Pay - £20,594.57
Now a Home Carer (MW5) was on a higher grade than a Gravedigger (MW4) before the WPBR was introduced, but the female dominated job was paid much less - and that is the historical basis of people's equal pay claims.
Men being paid much more than women for doing jobs that evidently carry less skill and responsibility.
Because you can't have a female dominated job that is fairly evaluated under an 'objective' job evaluation scheme (JES) and then pay the woman's job much less than a male dominated job which has been given a lower score and grade.
But that is exactly what happened when Glasgow brought in its new WPBR/EDC pay scheme in 2007 and, of course, the big differences in pay between male and female jobs continue to this day.
