Glasgow, Equal Pay and 'Tickety Boo'
Here's an interesting Twitter exchange sparked by Cllr Mhairi Hunter (a colleague of Susan Aitken) claiming that everything in Glasgow City Council is just 'tickety boo' as far as the business of settling equal pay is concerned.
Yet, in reality, Glasgow's outstanding equal pay claims are all heading back to the Employment Tribunal because of the Council's failure to get down to serious negotiations with the claimants representatives - and that is what Glasgow's historic, two-day equal pay strike is all about!
So the litigation in Glasgow has not ended - it has simply moved to a different (employment) court and if the Council continues in its stubborn refusal to negotiate seriously, this dispute is far from over, sadly.
Mhairi Hunter
bizarre Labour supporting tweets saying people have to support the equal pay claim. I mean it’s already won. The Council - under SNP leadership - has agreed discrimination has taken place. All that remains is to agree a settlement & implement the replacement pay & grading scheme.
DG
Och, Mhairi - though Labour has been shameful, I don't think it's quite as simple as that. Surely even you don't believe it is.
Mhairi Hunter
Yes it is that simple. The Council is no longer defending the claims.
Mark Irvine
The claims are heading back to the Employment Tribunals because of GCCs refusal to deal with very basic issues such comparators, after all this time. A negotiation is not about a beneficent council ‘announcing’ a settlement in December! Who do you think you are, Santa Claus?
Mhairi Hunter
No. The Council is committed to reaching a negotiation by agreement. You are committed to making life as difficult as possible for us to maximise pressure on us. That’s fine but if it takes longer because of it don’t blame us.
Mark Irvine
No, I’m committed to a negotiated settlement which requires elected members to understand the detail of what’s going on and not to rely on the judgement of discredited senior officials who advised the last Labour Council and who helped get GCC into this mess in the first place!
MM
How can you reach agreement if the officers you instruct don’t negotiate but instead give an offer in dec. so you will negotiate and the offer will be a negotiated one or is it offer then negotiate and end up in ET for the foreseeable future ? As those offers get refused .
MM
Or as Annmarie stated that only those at the table will get settlement . And to me that means those refusing or not at table get nothing ?
MC
Do you seriously think 8000 women would have walked out of their work places if everything was “going well “ the council told representatives we will get back to you with figures in December .How can you do that with no comparator ? It’s mindless
Mhairi Hunter
I don’t know why you went on strike. No-one does. We have discussed this before so no point going over old ground.
MC
21 meetings with no negotiations.I think everyone knows that now. That’s why 8000 women walked out of their workplaces. Not a decision taken lightly and I think everyone in the city and world knows now.
AR
Who are the comparators for home care then? If you say there will be a settlement in December then that has to be a factor and as a claimant I have the right to know so please divulge this information