Glasgow - 2018 vs 2019
Here's another post from the blog site archive reporting on Glasgow's unsuccessful attempt to overturn the Court of Session's landmark judgement which condemned the City Council's WPBR pay arrangements as 'unfit for purpose'.
It's worth recalling that it took another big campaign by the Claimants to help persuade the Council to accept the Court of Session's decision and also to abandon the WPBR which it finally did, albeit some months later in 2018.
But despite the obvious frustrations with the Council and the 'rollercoaster' nature of settlement talks, the fact is that the Claimants go into the New Year in a stronger position than the one they faced in 2018.
Glasgow Appeal Sunk (23/12/18)
The Court of Session WPBR hearing in Edinburgh was a unexpectedly lively affair which resulted in Glasgow City Council's application for leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court being thrown out on its ear - in record time, as far as I know.
The advocate representing A4ES clients, Jonathan Mitchell QC, described Glasgow's pitch to the court as a 'kitchen sink' appeal which indeed it was if you ask me, since the case was made up of different grounds of appeal, all of which were given very short shrift by the three judges: Lady Dorrian, Lady Paton and Lord Menzies.
Glasgow's submission included the desperate plea that settling its outstanding equal pay claims would cost the City Council a great deal of money, but the judges rightly observed that this was not a competent ground of appeal - and not even a valid point of law.
Quite simply it was the most fun I've had in ages, as the judges went into a brief 'huddle' after hearing from both sides and before delivering their quite devastating verdict.
I swear it was like the final big scene from the movie 'Scent of a Woman' when Al Pacino's character (Frank Slade) makes an impassioned speech to a disciplinary panel at Baird School in which he demands they stand up and 'do the right thing' by his young companion, Charlie Baird.
So here's a clip from YouTube which sums up today's situation rather well, albeit with a slightly different cast of characters:
- Baird's bullying head teacher (James Rebhorn) - GCC's senior officials
- Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell) - Glasgow's equal pay claimants
- Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino) - Action 4 Equality Scotland
- Baird School's disciplinary committee - Lady Dorrian, Lady Paton and Lord Menzies
