Glasgow - A Family Announcement
A kind reader has sent me the latest announcement about the 'Council Family' in Glasgow which comes from the chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell.
Now I have already explained that one of the main reasons for setting up Glasgow's ALEOs in the first place was for the City Council to try and wriggle out of its obligations over equal pay.
But thanks to the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, the best laid plans of the council's senior officials were overturned.
Yet here we are all these years later in 2018 with Glasgow's chief executive, the highest paid local government official in Scotland, having to dismantle the very organisations she was instrumental in setting up in the first place.
It's a mad, mad world as they say although don't just take my word for it - read the blog site post below which focuses on a commentary from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) on what Glasgow's senior officials were up to with this shameful ALEO business.
So instead of all these warm words about the 'Council Family', I would say Annemarie O'Donnell owes the Cordia workforce a humble apology - because the creation of this ALEO was not about improving the service and simply allowed Glasgow's Home Carers and others to be treated as second class citizens for years.
From: Corporate Announcements
Sent: 19 April 2018 11:16
Subject: Council Family Review - message from Annemarie O'Donnell Chief Executive
As you’ll be aware, today (19 April) the City Administration Committee considered a report recommending changes to the council family structure. I can now tell you that the vital services provided by Cordia and the services delivered on our behalf by Community Safety Glasgow (CSG) will continue to be delivered but they will move under the direct management of the council and Cordia LLPs will be wound up.
This decision will allow the council to continue to deliver an efficient and effective operating model and best value services for the city.
I know that this will feel like an unsettling time for everyone affected by the changes but I want to remind you that although the council’s structure will change and staff will transfer into the council, the vital jobs that staff do won’t change. I want to thank all staff in Cordia and CSG for their continued efforts and hard work to support the citizens and neighbourhoods of Glasgow.
As I mentioned in my email last week, an implementation plan will now be developed including a staff communication and engagement plan, so that transfers can take place no later than 30 September 2018 for Cordia and 31 March 2019 for CSG.
You can read the Council Family Review committee paper here which includes full details about the changes and where staff and services will transfer to.
If you have any questions about the changes, you can email me at Annemarie
Regards,
Annemarie O’Donnell
Chief Executive
Glasgow City Council appealed to the Court of Session in an attempt to prevent the female workers employed in ALEOs such as Cordia from being able to compare their earnings to much higher paid male employees in other parts of the council.
Here's a commentary from the EHRC on the Court of Session judgment which threw Glasgow's appeal out on its ear, but had the council succeeded with its cynical argument Home Helps and many others would have been stopped from pursuing equal pay claims.
Sometimes I wonder how the Glasgow politicians and senior officials behind this terrible strategy can live with themselves - they must have no sense shame.
Not for the first time I take my hat off to the judges at the Court of Session who stood up for the 'little guy' yet again in the long fight for equal pay.
Court of Session judgment in Glasgow City Council ALEO equal pay appeal
The politicians responsible for this cynical policy and for introducing Glasgow's 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay scheme are long gone, of course, but the senior officials who sought to deny Cordia staff their right to 'equal pay for work of equal value' are still in place.
A kind reader from Glasgow drew my attention to this article from the Evening Times which reports that the City Council is planning to dismantle Cordia, an Arms' Length External Organisation (ALEO) which was set up in an effort to help GCC escape its obligations over equal pay.
Now this is a good move if you ask me and if Cordia is now regarded as "no longer fit for the purpose it was set up for" what does that say about Glasgow's WPBR pay scheme which has been judged as 'unfit for purpose' by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court?
Regular readers will recall that Glasgow's current chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell is credited with setting up the City Council's ALEOs.
See post below dated 17/02/18 - 'Glasgow's Shame Over ALEOs'
As you’ll be aware, today (19 April) the City Administration Committee considered a report recommending changes to the council family structure. I can now tell you that the vital services provided by Cordia and the services delivered on our behalf by Community Safety Glasgow (CSG) will continue to be delivered but they will move under the direct management of the council and Cordia LLPs will be wound up.
This decision will allow the council to continue to deliver an efficient and effective operating model and best value services for the city.
I know that this will feel like an unsettling time for everyone affected by the changes but I want to remind you that although the council’s structure will change and staff will transfer into the council, the vital jobs that staff do won’t change. I want to thank all staff in Cordia and CSG for their continued efforts and hard work to support the citizens and neighbourhoods of Glasgow.
As I mentioned in my email last week, an implementation plan will now be developed including a staff communication and engagement plan, so that transfers can take place no later than 30 September 2018 for Cordia and 31 March 2019 for CSG.
You can read the Council Family Review committee paper here which includes full details about the changes and where staff and services will transfer to.
If you have any questions about the changes, you can email me at Annemarie
Regards,
Annemarie O’Donnell
Chief Executive
Glasgow's Shame Over ALEOs (26/02/18)
Glasgow City Council appealed to the Court of Session in an attempt to prevent the female workers employed in ALEOs such as Cordia from being able to compare their earnings to much higher paid male employees in other parts of the council.
Here's a commentary from the EHRC on the Court of Session judgment which threw Glasgow's appeal out on its ear, but had the council succeeded with its cynical argument Home Helps and many others would have been stopped from pursuing equal pay claims.
Sometimes I wonder how the Glasgow politicians and senior officials behind this terrible strategy can live with themselves - they must have no sense shame.
Not for the first time I take my hat off to the judges at the Court of Session who stood up for the 'little guy' yet again in the long fight for equal pay.
Court of Session judgment in Glasgow City Council ALEO equal pay appeal
The Court has upheld the judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal that Glasgow City Council are associated employers for the purposes of equal pay law and that the female claimants working for City Parking and Cordia can compare their pay with that of men still working for the Council.
The issue at the heart of this litigation was whether the claimants, who work for City Parking (Glasgow) and Cordia (Services) LLP, should be allowed to compare their pay with male employees working for the Council. The claimants used to work for the Council. However, they were transferred to City Parking and Cordia when these arm’s length external organisations (ALEOs) were established to carry out functions which were formerly carried out by the Council directly.
Under the Equality Act 2010 an employee can claim equal pay with a comparator of the opposite sex who is doing like work, work rated as equivalent or work of equal value. However, the comparator must be employed by the same or an associated employer at the same establishment or workplace or if they are employed at a different establishment or workplace, then there must be common terms and conditions between employees. This is referred to as the ‘same employment’ test.
Under European Union (EU) law differences in pay must be attributable to a single source which is capable of remedying any unlawful discrimination. If this is different from the ‘same employment’ test, EU law may be applied to produce a remedy.
The Court of Session agreed with the EAT that the Council is an associated employer of both City Parking and Cordia and that men employed by the Council are to be treated as in the same employment with women employed by the ALEOs.
The Court went on to find that the correct approach to the single source question, as explained by Lord Justice Mummery in Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs v Robertson [2005] ICR 750, is to determine whether there is a single source setting the relevant terms for the relevant employees and “which is responsible for the inequality and which could restore equal treatment”.
The Council’s appeal was refused and the equal pay claims were remitted back to the tribunal to proceed.
The SNP-led administration in Glasgow announced recently that Cordia will be dismantled and that the pay and conditions of staff will be brought back into line with those of other GCC employees.
Now this is a good thing if you ask me, but it's also an admission that Cordia staff have been treated as second class citizens for years, as a result of the City Council trying to escape its obligations over equal pay.
Glasgow's 'Not Fit For Purpose' ALEOs (22/02/18)
A kind reader from Glasgow drew my attention to this article from the Evening Times which reports that the City Council is planning to dismantle Cordia, an Arms' Length External Organisation (ALEO) which was set up in an effort to help GCC escape its obligations over equal pay.
Now this is a good move if you ask me and if Cordia is now regarded as "no longer fit for the purpose it was set up for" what does that say about Glasgow's WPBR pay scheme which has been judged as 'unfit for purpose' by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court?
Regular readers will recall that Glasgow's current chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell is credited with setting up the City Council's ALEOs.
See post below dated 17/02/18 - 'Glasgow's Shame Over ALEOs'
