Glasgow City Council - Lobby
A Equal Pay Lobby of Glasgow City Council is being held on Thursday of this week.
Date - Thursday 28 June 2018
Time - 12.30 to 1.30pm
Venue - City Chambers, George Square
While the Council has finally agreed to scrap its 'unfit for purse' WPBR pay scheme it is going to have to table serious proposals for settling this long running dispute very soon - otherwise there is no hope of reaching reaching a settlement before the end of 2018.
So do your best to get along to Thursday's lobby - and make your voice heard.
Glasgow, Equal Pay and Dead Parrots (19/06/18)
The Evening Times reports that Glasgow City Council is finally accepting that its WPBR pay scheme really is a 'dead parrot'.
Now no mention is made of the fact that the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, condemned Glasgow's WPBR pay arrangements as 'unfit for purpose' way back in August 2017 - after a huge legal battle.
Nor is any mention made of the fact that the Council's discredited pay scheme was only put to the sword after a fantastic campaign by Glasgow's equal pay claimants - supported by A4ES, GMB and Unison.
A casual reader of the Evening Times could be forgiven for thinking that this decision was reached by 'enlightened' council officials and political leaders who woke up one day and decided - all by themselves - that the workforce suddenly deserved fair and transparent pay arrangements, untainted by the blatant sex discrimination associated with the WPBR.
So since the Council is not giving credit where credit is due, let me say a big THANK YOU to the thousands of equal ay claimants across Glasgow who made this day possible.
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/16299112.Council_pay_and_grading_system_to_be_scrapped/
Glasgow City Council pay and grading system to be scrapped
By Stewart Paterson @PatersonHT - Evening Times
Equal Pay MFG
A SHAKE up of council staff pay and conditions is on the cards as the current system is to be scrapped.
Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said the workforce pay and benefits system, which is used to grade staff and determines wages and overtime rates is not fit for purpose.
The Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR)system is linked to the equal pay case which council officers are negotiating a settlement with unions and legal representatives of the claimants.
Writing in Today’s Evening Times Ms Aitken said that after talks with unions the council will be asked to give its approval to abandon the current WPBR and start work to create a whole new system.
It is likely the new system will be based on the Red Book which is an agreement used by most Scottish councils.
While it is hoped that negotiations will be concluded by the end of this year on the equal pay claims, the implementation of a new pay and grading structure will take much longer to implement.
Ms Aitken said: “Work on a fairer replacement will commence immediately after that and continue over the summer.
“Once identified, it would be two or three further years before it could be fully implemented. “We mustn’t repeat the mistakes of a decade ago and expose ourselves to fresh inequalities with another flawed system.
“This is what we are paying the price for. We need time to do this properly.”
Staff have been informed of the decision and work with the unions is expected to begin immediately.
The current grading system was introduced in 2007 and was supposed to deal with gender inequality in the light of equal pay claims but women workers argue it discriminates against them as female dominated jobs like home care are paid less than jobs which are dominated by men like cleansing.
It is expected that any changes in the new system will lead to greater value being placed on the work traditionally done by women workers.
Ms Aitken added: “As Council Leader I am committed to implementing a fully funded, fair and just pay and grading scheme which pays equally for equal work and which our employees have confidence in.”
The current pay and grading system was, at the time, agreed by the unions representing workers at the council.
Equal Pay MFG
A SHAKE up of council staff pay and conditions is on the cards as the current system is to be scrapped.
Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said the workforce pay and benefits system, which is used to grade staff and determines wages and overtime rates is not fit for purpose.
The Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR)system is linked to the equal pay case which council officers are negotiating a settlement with unions and legal representatives of the claimants.
Writing in Today’s Evening Times Ms Aitken said that after talks with unions the council will be asked to give its approval to abandon the current WPBR and start work to create a whole new system.
It is likely the new system will be based on the Red Book which is an agreement used by most Scottish councils.
While it is hoped that negotiations will be concluded by the end of this year on the equal pay claims, the implementation of a new pay and grading structure will take much longer to implement.
Ms Aitken said: “Work on a fairer replacement will commence immediately after that and continue over the summer.
“Once identified, it would be two or three further years before it could be fully implemented. “We mustn’t repeat the mistakes of a decade ago and expose ourselves to fresh inequalities with another flawed system.
“This is what we are paying the price for. We need time to do this properly.”
Staff have been informed of the decision and work with the unions is expected to begin immediately.
The current grading system was introduced in 2007 and was supposed to deal with gender inequality in the light of equal pay claims but women workers argue it discriminates against them as female dominated jobs like home care are paid less than jobs which are dominated by men like cleansing.
It is expected that any changes in the new system will lead to greater value being placed on the work traditionally done by women workers.
Ms Aitken added: “As Council Leader I am committed to implementing a fully funded, fair and just pay and grading scheme which pays equally for equal work and which our employees have confidence in.”
The current pay and grading system was, at the time, agreed by the unions representing workers at the council.
Why Glasgow's WPBR Had To Go! (25/05/18)
What great news about Glasgow's discredited WPBR finally being put to the sword - now I know it's taken an long time, but be in no doubt that this is a huge victory for the claimants.
A big 'THANK YOU' is due to everyone who played a part in getting the claimants' 'unfit for purpose' message across to Glasgow's councillors, MSPs and MPs - and it just goes to show what can be achieved when people stay positive, stick together and refuse to be fobbed off.
Because this time last year the City Council was defending the WPBR to the hilt and senior officials were reassuring Glasgow's councillors that their pay scheme was as 'sound as a pound' - and would see off any challenge at the Court of Session.
But what a difference a year makes!
So congratulations all round and here is a series of posts from the blog site archive which explain why the Council's WPBR sucks 'big time' and why the scheme had to be replaced.
The task now is to agree a new job evaluation scheme (JES) and new pay and grading arrangements which are open, transparent and command the confidence of the council workforce.
The other big challenge is to get down to serious negotiations about compensating all of the equal pay claimants who have effectively been treated as as 'second class citizens' while the WPBR has been operating for the past twelve years.
Why Glasgow's WPBR Sucks (8)
Here is the stark and shocking reality of how the 'rules' of the WPBR have been designed by Glasgow City Council to disadvantage female dominated jobs while favouring traditional male jobs.
The most notorious example is the completely invented '37 hour rule' and the accompanying overtime working practices which treat women workers as second class citizens.
- 98% of male dominated jobs benefit from the 37 hour rule and O/T practices
- 2% of female dominated jobs benefit from the 37 hour rule and O/T practices
- No other work related benefit operates in this way - people don't have to work 37 hours to qualify for holiday pay, sick pay, maternity leave, paternity leave etc.
- Put simply the 'rule' is a blatant example of the gender discrimination on which the whole WPBR is based.
Many Home Carers, for example, work more than 37 hours every week, but they are issued with separate contracts for working these additional hours so they don't qualify for premium, overtime rates.
If you ask me, the double standards built into the WPBR are completely indefensible which is why Glasgow's 'unfit for purpose' pay scheme has to go.
If I were running Glasgow City Council, I would extend an invitation Frans de Waal's to explain the psychology of equal pay to the council's senior officials
Watch this great excerpt from Ted Talks to see how low paid women workers in Glasgow have been treated for years, as second class citizens, paid in 'cucumbers' while their male colleagues were being rewarded with much juicer and tastier grapes.
But thanks to the long fight for equal pay and powerful backing from the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, the tables have turned.
Glasgow's lowest paid, predominantly female workers now have the confidence to tell City Council bosses to stick their cucumbers where the sun don't shine!
Watch this great excerpt from Ted Talks to see how low paid women workers in Glasgow have been treated for years, as second class citizens, paid in 'cucumbers' while their male colleagues were being rewarded with much juicer and tastier grapes.
But thanks to the long fight for equal pay and powerful backing from the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, the tables have turned.
Glasgow's lowest paid, predominantly female workers now have the confidence to tell City Council bosses to stick their cucumbers where the sun don't shine!
