First Minister and Equal Pay (25/10/18)

Here's an interesting Twitter exchange in which Nicola Sturgeon attacks the Labour Party for its role in failing to 'do the right thing' over equal pay in Scotland's largest council.

Now no one has been more outspoken than me in criticising Labour and other councils for their craven behaviour over the years, but the position in Glasgow is about much more than a bit of good, old-fashioned political knockabout.

Nicola wishes the Glasgow strike wasn't happening, so too did the women and men involved - because they deserve much better.

But the reason for the strike is that the Council has not delivered the 'serious negotiations' that were promised months ago to end this dispute - after more than 10 months and 21 separate meetings with senior council officials.

So the trade unions are now doing the right thing by standing up for their members and anyone who was on Tuesday's March for Equal Pay in Glasgow could see for themselves that the strike was not about party politicking or point scoring.

And while the unions have come under attack lately, little has been said about the appalling role of senior council officials who resolutely defended Glasgow's 'unfit for purpose' WPBR pay scheme and its bizarre 37 hour rule, in the courts, for years.

To cap it all, Glasgow's outstanding equal pay cases are now heading back to the Employment Tribunal because of the Council's refusal to negotiate seriously, for example over which comparators should be used to determine levels of compensation for the claimants.

The Council's response to this criticism is to insist that everything will come good in December when senior officials intend to put a one-sided settlement offer on the table.

But this is not a negotiation, never mind a serious one, since proper negotiations are conducted on a joint basis through hard, painstaking work - whereas a settlement offer in December is akin to the Council pulling a rabbit out of a hat.   

No one is going to fall for that - not Action 4 Equality Scotland, not the unions (GMB and Unison) and certainly not Glasgow's 13,000 equal pay claimants. 

    


Nicola Sturgeon

While I wish the strike wasn’t happening, I have nothing but admiration for the women involved. However, I feel contempt for a Labour Party expressing solidarity now when, in power, they took these women to court to deny equal pay. @theSNP and @SusaninLangside are working to fix.


Richard Leonard

I send solidarity to the thousands of Glasgow women who are striking in their fight for justice. Today these courageous women write their chapter in the history of the labour movement. They have the support and the solidarity of the Scottish Labour Party in doing so.

Mark Irvine

The reality is that Glasgow has been 'talking the talk' over equal pay for several months, but a settlement to this long-running dispute will only be found if and when the City Council starts 'walking the walk'. https://action4equalityscotland.blogspot.com/2018/10/start-walking-walk-glasgow.html … …