First Minister and Equal Pay

I was correct in what I said yesterday about the difficulty equal pay claimants are having in arranging a meeting with the member for Glasgow Southside, Nicola Sturgeon. 

Now I'm sure everyone appreciates the fact that the First Minister has a much busier diary than other Ministers and MSPs, but what effort does it take to acknowledge and respond to a simple request for a meeting?

Very little and if you ask me, it's also a matter of common courtesy - being seen to be interested in the issues that affect your local constituents.

So I hope Frances and her colleagues get their meeting with Nicola soon because they have a strong case to make and the stakes are rising all the time with strike action on the cards and all the outstanding equal pay claims heading back to the Glasgow Employment Tribunal next Tuesday - 25th September.

    

First Minister and Equal Pay (20/09/18)

I must check again with Frances S, but the last time I did so Frances had still to hear back from her local MSP, Nicola Sturgeon, about the request for a meeting to discuss the the latest developments in the fight for equal pay with Glasgow City Council.

Now with Glasgow's equal pay cases returning to the Employment Tribunals next week and two trade union strike ballots confirming that GMB and Unison members overwhelmingly support strike action - I would have thought that all Glasgow politicians would be keen to hear from their constituents.

So I wonder what the problem is with this slow response from the member for Glasgow Southside.

    

First Minister and Equal Pay (09/09/18)

Glasgow's equal pay claimants are beating a path to the door of their MSPs and MPs in order to explain why people have lost faith with the City Council and especially its senior officials who have been defending its 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay scheme for years.
Here's a great example and while Nicola Sturgeon is Scotland's First Minister she's also the local MSP for Glasgow Southside.

So let's hope Nicola agrees to meet up soon with some of the many claimants in her part of Glasgow to hear first-hand what they have to say.
I'm still waiting on a reply back from Nicola Sturgeon so sent her this wee reminder.

HI Nicola I sent you a message on the 31/8 /18 and I'm still waiting on a reply back, could you meet up with myself and a few of my colleagues regarding our equal pay as no one wants to come out on strike but Glasgow City Council have left us no option
We have all waited long enough now and with 19 meetings behind us with not one negotiation between GCC and our representative I think it's a disgrace how long this is taking
 
The way we have been treated is just not acceptable we're only asking for equality and a decent living wage.
F

    

Glasgow - Councillors, MSPs and MPs (29/08/18)

Equal pay claimants in Glasgow will be asked to take part in wide range of campaign activities in the weeks ahead, as the GMB and Unison strike ballot get underway and as all the outstanding cases return to the Glasgow Employment Tribunal.  

One of the key tasks is for people to contact their local Councillors, MSPs and MPs to ask where they stand on the Council's refusal to negotiate key issues which have still not been addressed after 8 months and 18 separate settlement meetings, e.g. the male comparator jobs to be used in calculating offers of compensation.

Now I know that the response of at least some politicians will be to try and fob such enquiries off with a bog standard reply which just regurgitates the Council's official position - that all is well and a 'deal' will be reached by the end of the year. 

But don't be put off by this kind of behaviour  and instead use the information on the blog site and from the unions to challenge what these politicians are saying, for example by asking:

• Where do they stand on the WPBR - do they accept that the Council's scheme is 'unfit for purpose' and blatantly discriminatory? 
• Where do they stand on the 37 hour rule - do they agree that key part of the WPBR was designed to favour male jobs and disadvantage female dominated jobs?
• What do they have to say about the prospect of industrial action - do they believe the trade unions are just picking a fight or do they accept there is a justified sense of grievance over the way settlement negotiations have been conducted? 

Better still ask for a meeting with your local Councillors, MSPs and MPs so that you can discuss these issues face-to-face in a civilised fashion, perhaps over a nice cup of tea or coffee.

One of the best known Glasgow claimants (Frances S) has already sprung into action with the following email to the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, which is a great example of how to proceed.

Hi Nicola 

Can myself and a couple of my work colleagues have a meeting with you regarding our equal pay as GCC have left us no option but to come out on strike they have had 18 meetings with our representatives and not one thing has been negotiated yet.

We feel this has been going on long enough now and just want it resolved, that was another one of our colleges young woman at 51 that has passed away waiting on her payout how many more of us will have passed away waiting on our claim getting settled.


Thanks

Frances

So be friendly, reasonable and on your best behaviour at all times - ask for a meeting with other local claimants (i.e. friends or co-workers) who live in the same area and make the case that Glasgow City Council can't go on in this fashion.

Because the senior officials who have been defending the 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay scheme for years are the same senior officials who are now leading the settlement talks on the Council's behalf which is why, after 8 months and 18 separate meetings, serious negotiations have still not got off the ground. 

  

Glasgow, Chief Execs and Cockatoos (08/04/18)

Glasgow's chief executive, Annemarie O'Donnell, has been 'parroting' the same old nonsense for weeks about the City Council's discredited WPBR pay arrangements, making the laughable claim that:

"acting in good faith, officers and the council sought to put in place arrangements which they believed removed discrimination from the council’s pay arrangements."

Now this is nonsense on stilts, if you ask me.

Because no one can argue, while keeping a straight face at least, that the WPBR's cockamamy '37 hour rule' was not deliberately designed to 'disadvantage' the City Council's largely female workforce, the vast majority of whom are (surprise, surprise) contracted to work for less than 37 hours a week.

It's as plain as the nose on your face and as Judge Judy would say:

"If it doesn't make sense, it's not true." 

In my view, it is simply ridiculous that Scotland highest paid local government official should be defending this indefensible nonsense (see post below dated 22 March 2018).

In fact, it's about as crazy as this Cockatoo getting all shook up to Elvis Presley and 'Don't Be Cruel' - though not quite as funny, I have to admit.

So I hereby challenge Annemarie to a public debate where she can defend her claim that the WPBR was put in place 'in good faith' - because it's high time the City Council's senior officials were put on the spot to explain their actions.