The Fight for Equal Pay in Glasgow
Here's the link to Stefan's interview with the BBC's Good Morning Scotland (GMS) radio programme earlier today - the interview starts at 2 hours and 45 minutes.
If you ask me, Stefan knocked the thing out of the park and as well as backing what he had to say with evidence and specific examples - Stefan was the voice of reason in standing up for the thousands of low paid council workers in Glasgow City Council who have been cheated and robbed of their rights to equal pay for 12 years (and counting).
How much better would it have been if the political leadership of the Council had been talking directly with the claimants representatives (A4ES, GMB and Unison) over the past 8 months to hear directly what we have to say.
Instead the Council's political leaders have relied solely on what their advisers and officials have been telling them - the same group of advisers and officials who have been defending the Council's 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay arrangements for years.
So maybe it's time the Council Leader and her colleagues realised that it's 'good to talk' and to listen as well - because that is the only way this long-running equal pay dispute is going to be brought to an end.
Stefan's interview with GMS starts at 2 hours and 45 minutes into the programme.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/play/b0bgb8x1
Breaking News: Stefan Cross is not a 'thin air plucker' (24/08/18)
Stefan Cross is not a 'thin air plucker' or even a 'thin air plucker's son' despite what Susan Aitken had to say on yesterday's Good Morning Scotland radio programme.
Councillor Aitken accused Stefan Cross QC of plucking a figure of £500 million out of 'thin air' as the potential cost of settling around 12,500 outstanding equal pay claims with Glasgow City Council.
Yet as someone who has worked very closely with Stefan and Action 4 Equality Scotland during the long fight for equal pay, I can confirm that Stefan is a real 'stickler' for detail who does not make exaggerated claims and knows what he is taking about.
So it came as no surprise that the Glasgow City Council leader was forced into reverse gear PDQ (Pretty Damn Quick) in a later interview for the BBC's Reporting Scotland programme in which Susan herself conceded that the final bill in Glasgow will run to 'hundreds of millions of pounds'.
The even better news is that Stefan has his 'right of reply' in this morning's Good Morning Scotland programme at around 8.15 am, so tune in this morning and hear what Stefan has to say.
In the meantime, here's a YouTube recording of Susan's unfortunate comments from Thursday and if you ask me the best thing to do now is for Susan Aitken to invite Stefan Cross for a friendly, if businesslike, chat over a nice cup of tea.
Because a little more listening and a little more respect towards the claimants (and their representatives) would do Glasgow's equal pay settlement talks the world of good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HaR015hgiw
Susan Aitken - SNP Leader of Glasgow City Council. Interviewed by Gillian Marles on BBC GMS radio discussing the impact historic equal pay claims (dating back to a Job Evaluation Scheme introduced in 2006 under the previous Labour administration) may have on Glasgow City Council
Stefan Cross
"Apparently I ‘plucked figures out of the air’ - this is a lie and defamatory
"Our figures are clearly calculated
"But judge for yourself whose telling the truth"
