Breaking News: Stefan Cross is not a 'thin air plucker' (24/08/18)
Stefan Cross is not a 'thin air plucker' or even a 'thin air plucker's son' despite what Susan Aitken had to say on yesterday's Good Morning Scotland radio programme.
Councillor Aitken accused Stefan Cross QC of plucking a figure of £500 million out of 'thin air' as the potential cost of settling around 12,500 outstanding equal pay claims with Glasgow City Council.
Yet as someone who has worked very closely with Stefan and Action 4 Equality Scotland during the long fight for equal pay, I can confirm that Stefan is a real 'stickler' for detail who does not make exaggerated claims and knows what he is taking about.
So it came as no surprise that the Glasgow City Council leader was forced into reverse gear PDQ (Pretty Damn Quick) in a later interview for the BBC's Reporting Scotland programme in which Susan herself conceded that the final bill in Glasgow will run to 'hundreds of millions of pounds'.
The even better news is that Stefan has his 'right of reply' in this morning's Good Morning Scotland programme at around 8.15 am, so tune in this morning and hear what Stefan has to say.
In the meantime, here's a YouTube recording of Susan's unfortunate comments from Thursday and if you ask me the best thing to do now is for Susan Aitken to invite Stefan Cross for a friendly, if businesslike, chat over a nice cup of tea.
Because a little more listening and a little more respect towards the claimants (and their representatives) would do Glasgow's equal pay settlement talks the world of good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HaR015hgiw
Susan Aitken - SNP Leader of Glasgow City Council. Interviewed by Gillian Marles on BBC GMS radio discussing the impact historic equal pay claims (dating back to a Job Evaluation Scheme introduced in 2006 under the previous Labour administration) may have on Glasgow City Council
Stefan Cross
"Apparently I ‘plucked figures out of the air’ - this is a lie and defamatory
"Our figures are clearly calculated
"But judge for yourself whose telling the truth"
Glasgow - Changes Its Tune (29/10/18)
Not very long ago, Stefan Cross QC was being accused of 'plucking figures out of the air' when he argued that Glasgow's equal pay bill could easily top £500 million.
But The Herald reports today that even Glasgow City Council leader, Susan Aitken, is now accepting that the settling the equal pay row will cost 'hundreds of millions' of pounds.
Now nothing has been negotiated never mind agreed as yet, so let's not get carried away although the change of language on the Council's part is very welcome I have to say.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17126003.equal-pay-row-will-cost-hundreds-of-millions-city-leader-admits/
Equal pay row will cost 'hundreds of millions', city leader admits
By Tom Gordon - The Herald
Equal pay Strike Glasgow 23/10/18
SETTLING the equal pay dispute afflicting Scotland’s largest council will cost “hundreds of millions of pounds”, its SNP leader has admitted, blaming Labour for the bill.
Glasgow City Council boss Susan Aitken, who has previously avoided naming a figure, said the “massive cost” meant a difficult future for the authority.
She said there would be no government bail-out, as it was not right for taxpayers across Scotland to fix a problem created in the city by her Labour predecessors.
On some estimates, it could cost more than £500m to settle back-dated pay claims.
The council is now looking at refinancing its existing debt, borrowing on the market, and a limited sale of assets.
Ms Aitken said: “Justice comes with a price and the solution to this issue might be difficult for the council, but that should not be used as an excuse for allowing inequality to continue.”
Ms Aitken’s statement followed one of her toughest weeks since the SNP took over the City Chambers in May 2017, ending four decades of Labour rule.
More than 8000 council workers staged a 48-hour walk-out on Tuesday and Wednesday in protest at “lack of progress” in long-running pay talks.
Primary schools and care services were affected by the strike.
Dating back to 2006, and signed off by Labour, unequal pay arrangements at the council meant workers in female-dominated roles, such as catering or cleaning, paid up to £3 an hour less than men in equivalent roles, such as refuse collection.
The walk-out was orchestrated by some of the same unions who were to blame for the original unfair deal.
Ms Aitken has made resolving the dispute a priority, and there had been hopes of an in-principle agreement on cost by December.
However lawyers acting for the women say talks with the council are stalemated, with the council refusing to engage seriously with the claimants’ backdated pay demands.
Writing in the National, Ms Aitken said she was “shocked” at the lack of work by previous administrations, who resisted the pay claims, on a potential settlement.
She said Labour in Glasgow failed to learn from other councils that had similar disputes, and instead spent more than £2m pounds defending an “indefensible scheme" in court.
She said: “The strike has passed and, after tentative talks in the past few days, equal pay negotiations will resume this week. December remains the target for an agreement.
“Make no mistake, the decision and adherence to a discriminatory pay scheme by Labour comes at a massive cost. This is where the discrimination lay and it will cost the city hundreds of millions of pounds to resolve.”
Mark Irvine, of Action 4 Equality, which has led the fight for equal pay, said the reference to hundreds of millions of pounds was further than Ms Aitken had gone before.
However the council needed to engage more with claimants’ demands to get a deal.
He said: “The council can negotiate to reach an agreement in principle by the end of the year. That’s definitely possible. But they have to get serious about addressing the numbers involved. Let’s hope they’re at long last doing that.”
Equal pay Strike Glasgow 23/10/18
SETTLING the equal pay dispute afflicting Scotland’s largest council will cost “hundreds of millions of pounds”, its SNP leader has admitted, blaming Labour for the bill.
Glasgow City Council boss Susan Aitken, who has previously avoided naming a figure, said the “massive cost” meant a difficult future for the authority.
She said there would be no government bail-out, as it was not right for taxpayers across Scotland to fix a problem created in the city by her Labour predecessors.
On some estimates, it could cost more than £500m to settle back-dated pay claims.
The council is now looking at refinancing its existing debt, borrowing on the market, and a limited sale of assets.
Ms Aitken said: “Justice comes with a price and the solution to this issue might be difficult for the council, but that should not be used as an excuse for allowing inequality to continue.”
Ms Aitken’s statement followed one of her toughest weeks since the SNP took over the City Chambers in May 2017, ending four decades of Labour rule.
More than 8000 council workers staged a 48-hour walk-out on Tuesday and Wednesday in protest at “lack of progress” in long-running pay talks.
Primary schools and care services were affected by the strike.
Dating back to 2006, and signed off by Labour, unequal pay arrangements at the council meant workers in female-dominated roles, such as catering or cleaning, paid up to £3 an hour less than men in equivalent roles, such as refuse collection.
The walk-out was orchestrated by some of the same unions who were to blame for the original unfair deal.
Ms Aitken has made resolving the dispute a priority, and there had been hopes of an in-principle agreement on cost by December.
However lawyers acting for the women say talks with the council are stalemated, with the council refusing to engage seriously with the claimants’ backdated pay demands.
Writing in the National, Ms Aitken said she was “shocked” at the lack of work by previous administrations, who resisted the pay claims, on a potential settlement.
She said Labour in Glasgow failed to learn from other councils that had similar disputes, and instead spent more than £2m pounds defending an “indefensible scheme" in court.
She said: “The strike has passed and, after tentative talks in the past few days, equal pay negotiations will resume this week. December remains the target for an agreement.
“Make no mistake, the decision and adherence to a discriminatory pay scheme by Labour comes at a massive cost. This is where the discrimination lay and it will cost the city hundreds of millions of pounds to resolve.”
Mark Irvine, of Action 4 Equality, which has led the fight for equal pay, said the reference to hundreds of millions of pounds was further than Ms Aitken had gone before.
However the council needed to engage more with claimants’ demands to get a deal.
He said: “The council can negotiate to reach an agreement in principle by the end of the year. That’s definitely possible. But they have to get serious about addressing the numbers involved. Let’s hope they’re at long last doing that.”
