Glasgow's Pay Arrangements
I am pleased to report that yesterday's post on Glasgow City Council's cockamamy WPBR pay scheme attracted a record number of visitors to the blog site in a single day.
I asked Stefan Cross QC for a comment and he got straight to the point:
"I'm not in the least surprised because what this post shows is that many hundreds of former APT&C workers (white collar staff) in Glasgow had perfectly valid equal pay claims prior to the introduction of the WPBR in 2007.
"Because their basic salary was on a par with that of the City Council Garage Engineer at around £14,000 yet the female jobs were all excluded from the big bonus payments which in this particular case were worth an extra £17,000 a year.
"The trade unions knew this, of course, but their APT&C members were kept in the dark and were also excluded from the financial compensation scheme in 2005 which 'capped' compensation payments at a derisory maximum of just £9,000.
"In effect the non Manual Workers, just like the men in non bonus earning jobs (e.g School Janitors) were ignored by the unions; it's almost as if the APT&C workforce didn't exist because only Action 4 Equality Scotland took up claims on their behalf.
"The trade unions knew this, of course, but their APT&C members were kept in the dark and were also excluded from the financial compensation scheme in 2005 which 'capped' compensation payments at a derisory maximum of just £9,000.
"In effect the non Manual Workers, just like the men in non bonus earning jobs (e.g School Janitors) were ignored by the unions; it's almost as if the APT&C workforce didn't exist because only Action 4 Equality Scotland took up claims on their behalf.
"The good news is that the recent Court of Session judgment allows former APTC staff to raise new claims since these huge pay differences still exist in Glasgow and various grades of Clerical Workers are now able to argue convincingly that they are doing jobs which are of a least 'equal value' to the likes of a Garage Engineer or a Council Gravedigger."
Well that hits the nail on the head if you ask me and any readers who wish Action 4 Equality Scotland to act on their behalf should contact A4ES via:
Telephone: 0131 659 9958
Web: www.a4es.co.uk
A Garage Engineer was not a highly skilled or highly graded post before the WPBR which can be seen from the fact that the job attracted an annual salary of £14,073.36 - before the City Council's new pay arrangements came into operation in 2007.
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
Post of Garage Engineer - prior to the WPBR
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 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.
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.
Glasgow's Pay Arrangements (22/09/17)
A Garage Engineer was not a highly skilled or highly graded post before the WPBR which can be seen from the fact that the job attracted an annual salary of £14,073.36 - before the City Council's new pay arrangements came into operation in 2007.
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
Post of Garage Engineer - prior to the WPBR
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.
