Glasgow and Equal Pay - It's Good To Talk!
I had a very useful meeting last night with my local MSP John Mason, the member for Glasgow Shettleston.
As you would expect, our discussion focused on the long fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council and issues such as the council's WPBR pay scheme which as everyone knows has been condemned as 'unfit for purpose' by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.
I won't repeat anything John said to me because our meeting was private and he can speak for himself, but I think it is fair to say that because he was willing to listen and ask intelligent questions, John came away much better informed than he had been previously.
So I would say that while John has legitimate concerns about how the City Council gets out of this mess (of its own creation), as a local MSP John now has a good appreciation of how things look from the claimants' point of view.
Here are some of the many issues I raised with John which we discussed for an hour or so:
- The background to equal pay and the 1999 Single Status (Equal Pay) Agreement
- The Scottish employers' pledge to tackle 'unequal pay' and widespread pay discrimination against female dominated jobs
- The council employers failure to act and A4ES's arrival on the scene in 2005
- Glasgow's response and the pre-Christmas 2005 'buy out' of employees' equal pay claims
- The role of the local trade unions at the time
- Glasgow's WPBR and replacement of one blatantly discriminatory pay scheme with another
- The mystery surrounding the procurement of the WPBR and the absence of records
- The role of senior council officials in relation to the WPBR - past and present
- The creation of ALEOs in an effort by GCC to escape its equal pay obligations
- The '37 hour rule' and other discriminatory pay practices designed into the WPBR
- The unanimous judgments of the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court
- The ongoing settlement negotiations and obstacles ahead
- The need for the council to agree to replace the WPBR to stop Glasgow's unequal pay problems getting worse
- The positive attitude of the new SNP-led administration, but a perceived reluctance for SNP politicians (councillors, MSPs and MPs) to engage constructively with A4ES
- The joint working arrangements amongst the claimant organisations and the fact that A4ES, GMB and Unison are now speaking with one voice
While our discussion did not result in any dramatic breakthrough (nor could it) I think it was a worthwhile exercise and I hope that the Glasgow claimants will make the time and effort to sit down with their own MSPs, MPs and local councillors.
If people need any help in putting their thoughts together or in deciding what are the key points to emphasise, then let me know as I can obviously post something on the blog or meet up with folk, as necessary - hopefully the bullet points in this post will help.
The key thing is to get the claimants' message across and remember, as ever, Many Hands Make Light Work - the fight for equal pay is not a spectator sport and the more people who get involved the better!
I will be keeping in touch with Glasgow's politicians in the weeks ahead and John Mason has agreed to help facilitate a meeting with my local SNP councillors whom I've been in touch with over equal pay, but not met with personally - as yet.
Glasgow MSPs and MPs (26/02/18)
I sent my post 'Why Glasgow's WPBR Sucks (7) to all Glasgow MSPs and MPs along with the following Twitter message:
Senior officials in Glasgow City Council should be on their knees apologising for the WPBR - instead they are defending the discredited pay scheme which has been condemned as 'unfit for purpose' by Scotland's highest civil court.
I hope that claimants in Glasgow are tasing these issues with their elected politicians as well - because the WPBR and its discriminatory pay practices for is a major issue for the parties to overcome, if there is to be a negotiated settlement of the outstanding equal pay claims.
And at the moment, the senior officials representing the council side are the same senior officials who have been defending the WPBR for years.
Why Glasgow's WPBR Sucks (7)
WCD has 6 levels from Level 0 (which attracts no payment whatsoever) to Level 5 which attracts the highest payment.
Level 0 - has 23% Men and 77% Women (0 to 44 points)
Level 1 - has 26% Men and 74% Women (45 to 54 points)
Level 2 - has 51% Men and 49% Women (55 to 63 points)
Level 3 - has 93% Men and 07% Women (64 to 72 points)
Level 4 - has 100% Men and 0% Women (73 to 79 points)
Level 5 - has 100% Men and 0% Women (80 points plus)
The position can be summarised as follows:
- The highest concentration of women is to be found at WCD Level 0 which attracts a zero payment.
- Women also dominate Level 1 which attracts the lowest level of WCD payment.
- Traditional male jobs dominate Levels 2, 3, 4 and 5 despite the fact that men make up only 30% of the workforce.
- Each WCD Level is awarded points and the points are worth money - except in the case of Level 0 which attracts no monetary reward.
- Level 0 has from 0 to 44 points, but these points do not get added to an employee's initial WPBR Grade even though the extra points would make a difference to some of the claimants' grades and Core Pay.
- The strange banding of points has clearly been designed to favour male dominated jobs - the first Level 0 band is 'up to 44 points' yet all the others have much shorter 'steps'.
