Enough Is Enough!
Here's a statement released by the GMB in the wake of its stunning ballot result in which 98% of union members voted for industrial action in support of their fight for equal pay.
“Enough Is Enough!” Home Care Staff To Strike Over Council’s Equal Pay Failure
Thousands of women employed by Cordia Services will take industrial action over the collapse of equal pay negotiations with Glasgow City Council (GCC).
GMB Scotland’s ballot of members delivering home care, school cleaning and catering services across Glasgow closed this afternoon (Thursday 13 September), returning an overwhelming 98 per cent support for strike action.
GMB has over 2,800 members in Cordia providing around the clock home care for 87,000 service users, as well as cleaning and catering services for schools and amenities across the city.
The trade union represents over 2,000 of an estimated 10,000 women with live second wave equal pay claims against GCC, with the overwhelming majority employed by the arms-length organisation.
GMB Scotland Organiser Rhea Wolfson said:
This is a significant moment, not just in the long history of Glasgow’s equal pay scandal but in the fight back against institutionalised discrimination and sexism at work.
This is a significant moment, not just in the long history of Glasgow’s equal pay scandal but in the fight back against institutionalised discrimination and sexism at work.
Thousands of women who have been robbed by their employer for years have sent a loud and clear message to this council and to the country: “Enough is enough! It’s time to deliver what we are owed.”
GMB Scotland Organiser Hazel Nolan added:
“Over the last ten months the joint claimant organisations have sat with council officials to try and start a process of negotiation that would deliver settlements for our members, but we have been stonewalled since day one.”
“Over the last ten months the joint claimant organisations have sat with council officials to try and start a process of negotiation that would deliver settlements for our members, but we have been stonewalled since day one.”
There is no confidence in this process among our women and without cast-iron guarantees from the council that meaningful negotiations can be revived then Glasgow is facing waves of industrial action across key services in the coming weeks and months.”
Ends
The Evening Times reports that GMB union members in Glasgow have voted by a massive majority for strike action in their fight for equal pay with Glasgow City Council.
Now this is a absolutely stunning majority and given the level of support amongst GMB members I would expect a similar outcome when Unison declares the result of its strike ballot next week.
https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/16858828.glasgow-women-workers-vote-98-per-cent-in-favour-of-strike-action/?ref=erec
Glasgow women workers vote 98 per cent in favour of strike action
No one wants a strike, but Glasgow's equal pay claims are heading back to the Employment Tribunals and industrial action is on the cards because:
Breaking News!
The Evening Times reports that GMB union members in Glasgow have voted by a massive majority for strike action in their fight for equal pay with Glasgow City Council.
Now this is a absolutely stunning majority and given the level of support amongst GMB members I would expect a similar outcome when Unison declares the result of its strike ballot next week.
https://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/16858828.glasgow-women-workers-vote-98-per-cent-in-favour-of-strike-action/?ref=erec
Glasgow women workers vote 98 per cent in favour of strike action
By Catriona Stewart @LadyCatHT - Evening Times
GLASGOW'S equal pay women have voted an overwhelming 98 per cent in favour of a strike.
A ballot said by the unions to be one of the largest of women workers in the UK returned this afternoon with a majority voting to walk out.
If the strike now goes ahead it will affect schools, museums and leisure facilities across the city with thousands of women involved.
Yesterday, Glasgow City Council said unions are "putting vulnerable people at risk" by calling for strike action.
But the unions say their members are clear on what they are doing and have waited long enough for compensation for years of unequal pay.
A ballot said by the unions to be one of the largest of women workers in the UK returned this afternoon with a majority voting to walk out.
If the strike now goes ahead it will affect schools, museums and leisure facilities across the city with thousands of women involved.
Yesterday, Glasgow City Council said unions are "putting vulnerable people at risk" by calling for strike action.
But the unions say their members are clear on what they are doing and have waited long enough for compensation for years of unequal pay.
Glasgow - Strike for Equal Pay (12/09/18)
- After 8 long months and 19 separate settlement meetings serious negotiations with the Council have still not got off the ground
- The Council has been moving at the veritable 'speed of a glacier' since the start of this year - without much purpose or direction
- The senior officials leading the sham settlement talks are the same group of officials who introduced the WPBR and who have been defending the scheme for years
- Senior officials do not accept the judgment of the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, that their WPBR pay scheme is 'unfit for purpose'
- Nor do senior officials officials do not accept that the notorious 37 hour 'rule' is blatantly discriminatory or that they have failed to protect the interests of the Council's lowest paid, predominantly female workforce
- The Council rejected the Claimants' comparators and settlement proposals out of hand - without a serious response or putting forward an alternative
- Presenting an one-sided offer to claimants at the 'fag end' of 2018 is a complete joke - not a negotiation
