Glasgow's MSPs and MPs
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about John Mason, the SNP Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Glasgow Shettleston constituency.
Now I knew that John had been a Glasgow councillor in a previous life, but I didn't realise that he was the Leader of the SNP Opposition Group between 1999 and 2008.
Which is very significant, of course, because this covers the period when the fight for equal pay first began in Glasgow in 2005 and the period that followed when the 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay scheme was introduced in 2006/07.
I plan to do the same exercise for other Glasgow MSPs and MPs to check on who else may have a background in local government.
Because anyone with experience as a local councillor has no excuse if you ask me, for not being 'up to speed' and understanding all the important issues surrounding equal pay.
Councillor
Mason has lived in the East End of Glasgow for the past 20 years, and was elected as the councillor for the Garrowhill ward in Glasgow City Council at a by-election in 1998, and was re-elected in 1999 and 2003.[3]
He rose to become the Leader of the Opposition in Glasgow City Council, and led the SNP Council Group on the majority Labour-run Council between 1999 and 2008. He was the SNP's longest serving Glasgow councillor, and during his term, he led many protests against Labour's moves to weaken effective opposition by altering the council committee system.[3]
In his ward, he attended a wide variety of community groups, including Garrowhill and Swinton Community Councils, local school boards, tenants association, and Garrowhill Action Partnership. He was also on the management committee of Tenant Controlled Housing, which aims to give local tenants control of their housing, in place of Glasgow Housing Association (GHA).[4]
Glasgow - Insulting and Ridiculous (18/12/17)
I circulated a copy of yesterday's post about John Mason's comments on the fight for equal pay with Glasgow City Council - to all Glasgow MSPs, MPs and local councillors along with the following Twitter message:
"John Mason's suggestion that equal pay claimants in Glasgow should 'pay' for their own rights to be upheld is insulting, ridiculous and a complete non-starter"
I don't think I need to add anything further at this stage, but watch this space for more news because there's a lot going on at the moment.
Glasgow - Breaking News (17/12/17)
A kind reader has just shared this email from John Mason MSP which, if you ask me, is ill-judged, patronising and insulting because of the strange way John qualifies his 'support' for equal pay.
John's suggestion is that the Glasgow claimants who have been cheated and robbed of their rights to equal pay for years should come up with a solution themselves and consider accepting less than they are entitled to given the potential impact on jobs and services.
Thanks for your email.
Yes, I do agree with you that this dispute should be settled as soon as possible.
The problem is how much money it will cost and where that money will come from. Figures up to £500 million have been mentioned and Glasgow does not have that money. Labour should have made cuts to pay for the equal pay.
Do you think the SNP should cut jobs and services in order to pay the equal pay claim? Or should the workers who are entitled to the money take less so their colleagues can keep their jobs?
Happy to hear any ideas you have about where the money should come from.
Sincerely
John Mason
(MSP for Glasgow Shettleston)Now I didn't hear Nicola Sturgeon qualify her support back in October when she said at an SNP conference in Glasgow in October 2017:
"The injustice suffered by low paid women in this city will be put right.
"Equal pay for equal work, denied for too long, will be delivered by the SNP."
Nor have I heard SNP MPs at Westminster say that the pension rights of the 'WASPI' women should be restored so long as they come up with proposals for making cuts in other areas of public spending!
I must check on this point with Ian Blackford, the SNP leader in the House of Commons, and Mhairi Black, the SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire, who has been very vocal in support of the WASPI campaign, but I'll eat my hat is that is the stance being taken by the SNP in Westminster.
And while I agree with John that previous Labour-led administrations in Glasgow have a lot to answer for, if I remember correctly, John was a Glasgow councillor at the time the City Council approved its 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay arrangements back in 2006/07.
So John trying to 'wash his hands' of the whole affair simply won't do although I'd be happy to sit down and discuss how the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government might help Glasgow City Council find a way out of the huge mess it finds itself in today.
But what do the claimants in Glasgow think of John's email?
Let me know and I'll see if we can find a way of bringing Glasgow's MSPs and MPs together for a constructive discussion with some of the claimants in the New Year.
Glasgow's 'Quiet Bunch' (15/12/17)
Glasgow's MSPs and MPs are proving to be more like 'The Quiet Bunch' than 'The Wild Bunch' when it comes to the fight for equal pay with Scotland's largest local council.
Now I've been keeping all Glasgow politicians - local councillors, MSPs and MPs - up to speed with what's been happening in recent weeks and months, yet there seems to be a strange reluctance to get directly involved.
I certainly expected the politicians to show more interest in what's happening in their own back yard and to speak up on important issues such as the prospect of the City Council trying to overturn a unanimous judgment from Scotland's highest civil court, the Court of Session.
Maybe they're all too busy doing their Christmas shopping, but whatever the reason I'm sure this issue is going to return with a real vengeance in the New Year.
