Glasgow's Equal Pay 'Double Whammy'
Glasgow City Council has been hit with a 'double whammy' with the news that members of the Unison Glasgow Branch have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in support of the long-running dispute over equal pay.
Unison members voted by astonishing majorities of 99% and 90% in two separate ballots, both of which easily cleared the new legal threshold and required turnout of 50%.
The Unison result follows hot on the heels of last week's industrial action vote by members of the GMB union which was equally emphatic.
So the ball is no well and truly in Glasgow's court as the City Council's outstanding equal pay claims return to the Employment Tribunals after months of fruitless settlement talks.
UNISON Glasgow Branch
Thousands of Glasgow council workers vote to strike over equal pay
A UNISON ballot of nearly 3,000 school learning support workers, school administration workers, early years nursery workers and other education staff has returned a 90% vote to take strike action over the council’s failure to reach agreement on a long standing equal pay dispute.
In a second UNISON ballot of over 2,000 home carers, school cleaners, catering workers and other staff employed by Cordia 99% voted to strike. An incredible result. This follows a ballot last week by the GMB trade union of their members in Cordia which also returned a massive strike vote.
Any strike action would hit schools, nurseries, home care, cleaning and catering services in the city.
Carol Ball, UNISON Glasgow Chair, said:
“This is a fantastic show of strength by an overwhelmingly female workforce who have been treated disgracefully for years. They are now standing up and fighting back.
We have given the council ten months to make progress on addressing the historical discrimination suffered by these workers. However the council has agreed nothing. Offered nothing. All we have had are meetings about meetings and talks about talks. It’s time for some action.
Our 5,000 UNISON members will now move towards strike action, and we will co-ordinate that action with our sisters and brothers in the GMB trade union.”
- Both ballots easily met the new anti-trade union balloting thresholds with turnouts of 70% (Cordia) and 55% (Education).
- Details of the strike will be issued in due course
- The Court of Session ruled against the council’s pay scheme in August 2017 and then again in December 2017
Breaking News! (13/09/18)
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
