Glasgow - I am Spartacus!
The next four or five days will be crucial in determining whether there is a realistic prospect of a negotiated settlement in Glasgow's long-running equal pay dispute.
The new Council administration has effectively staked its reputation on a settlement before Christmas 2018 and already it is clear that this will not happen.
Senior officials pulled out of Wednesday's scheduled settlement negotiations by sending an email, would you believe, to the Claimants' Representatives after 5pm on Tuesday evening.
How disrespectful is this kind of arrogant behaviour which smacks of complete disdain for the Claimants?
If you ask me, the Council Leader (never mind officials) should have met with the Claimants' Representatives to apologise for the shambles on the Council's Side and offer some kind of reasonable explanation.
It's called good manners and behaving professionally, yet that seems to be a 'big ask' in Glasgow City Council these days - which brings me to the 'I am Spartacus' campaign.
Now there are a few 'Jeremiahs' out there who say, "What's the point" or "Don't waste your time" which is a little disappointing, I have to admit.
Because if A4ES had taken that attitude years ago - we would never have achieved the landmark Court of Session judgment which (in 2017) condemned the Council's WPBR pay scheme as 'unfit for purpose'.
So the point in writing to the Council Leader, Susan Aitken, is to show the strength of feeling that still exists and get across the determination of the Claimants to carry this fight forward into 2019, if the Council reneges on its commitment to a negotiated settlement - based on what the Claimants have lost under 12 years (and counting) of the WPBR.
In other words, the Council's response is less important than the Claimants sending a powerful message that they will not to be bullied or browbeaten into submission, as so many people were back in 2005 with miserable 'low ball' offers of settlement.
Nor will they be duped again, as they were in 2007, over the introduction of another WPBR-style pay scheme with cockamamy rules which blatantly discriminate against the Council's largely female workforce.
Glasgow's politicians, the City's MPs and MSPs, including the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, need to realise that the issue is not going to go away until justice over equal pay is finally done - and seen to be done.
More to follow soon - so watch this space.
No one has done more in recent years to support the fight for equal pay in Glasgow than our own Frances Stojilkovic, a stalwart of the Council's Home Care service since 2004.
Yet for all the selfless work Frances has done in spreading the word about equal pay and bringing thousands of low paid council workers together, Frances is now being 'blanked' by local politicians including the Council Leader, Susan Aitken.
Now I find this very strange, I have to say.
Because it wasn't very long ago, first as the SNP Opposition Leader and subsequently as the new Leader of the Council (from May 2017), that Susan was delighted to engage with Frances and others fighting for their rights to equal pay.
In fact, I was present at the Dixon Halls in Govanhill, way back in 2017, when Susan Aitken promised to hold a follow-up meeting in the New Year to update Glasgow's claimants on progress in resolving their long-standing equal pay claims, perhaps eve using the City Chambers as a venue.
I understood this follow-up meeting as an effort to continue with the dialogue over equal pay that had been built up during Susan Aitken's time as SNP Opposition Leader and I'm sure that everyone else in the Dixon Halls thought the same thing too.
But what has happened since is quite shameful if you ask me, because Frances is now being given the cold-shoulder by the Leader's office to the point that she doesn't even get a response to her phone calls and emails.
Whatever happened to local democracy, I ask myself?
Just what is it about 'power and politicians' that makes otherwise normal, decent people behave in this way?
Without going into the sheer rudeness and bad manners involved.
I have to admit to feeling a little bit outraged that someone who has done so much for her fellow workers, and the citizens of Glasgow, can be treated so shabbily.
So I am inviting readers to show their solidarity with Frances by raising this issue directly with the Council Leader via email.
In what you might describe as an Glasgow Equal Pay reworking of 'I am Spartacus' - with a new title of 'I am Frances Stojilkovic'.
Here's the kind of email I would encourage claimants to send to the Council Leader Susan Aitken at the following email address: susan.aitken@glasgow.gov.uk
Dear Susan
I understand that your office is 'blanking' Frances Stojilkovic by not returning her calls and emails over a planned meeting for you, as Council Leader, to report back on the progress (or lack of progress) in resolving Glasgow's equal pay claims.
Good manners cost nothing and I am very disappointed to hear that Frances is now being given the 'run around' and treated so disrespectfully.
Can I just say that Frances speaks for me and many other equal pay claimants in Glasgow - We are all Frances Stojilkovic!
So I hope you will reflect on what the claimants have to say on this matter and ask your office to treat Frances with the respect and consideration she deserves.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Insert your name name and email address
Glasgow - I am Spartacus! (29/11/18)
I've had a great response to my 'I am Spartacus' post and many readers have already taken up my suggestion about dropping a line to the Glasgow City Council Leader, Susan Aitken.
What puzzles me is that politicians are always desperate for an audience when it suits them - consider the Brexit debacle, for example, where Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Nicola Sturgeon are all vying to put their particular pitch to MPs and the public at large.
Yet over Equal Pay and the WPBR, the biggest financial issues to confront Glasgow in years, the City Council's political leadership is suddenly reluctant to meet and explain its position to the workers directly involved.
So much for local democracy, but keep up the good work - more to follow soon.
No one has done more in recent years to support the fight for equal pay in Glasgow than our own Frances Stojilkovic, a stalwart of the Council's Home Care service since 2004.
Yet for all the selfless work Frances has done in spreading the word about equal pay and bringing thousands of low paid council workers together, Frances is now being 'blanked' by local politicians including the Council Leader, Susan Aitken.
Now I find this very strange, I have to say.
Because it wasn't very long ago, first as the SNP Opposition Leader and subsequently as the new Leader of the Council (from May 2017), that Susan was delighted to engage with Frances and others fighting for their rights to equal pay.
In fact, I was present at the Dixon Halls in Govanhill, way back in 2017, when Susan Aitken promised to hold a follow-up meeting in the New Year to update Glasgow's claimants on progress in resolving their long-standing equal pay claims, perhaps eve using the City Chambers as a venue.
I understood this follow-up meeting as an effort to continue with the dialogue over equal pay that had been built up during Susan Aitken's time as SNP Opposition Leader and I'm sure that everyone else in the Dixon Halls thought the same thing too.
But what has happened since is quite shameful if you ask me, because Frances is now being given the cold-shoulder by the Leader's office to the point that she doesn't even get a response to her phone calls and emails.
Whatever happened to local democracy, I ask myself?
Just what is it about 'power and politicians' that makes otherwise normal, decent people behave in this way?
Without going into the sheer rudeness and bad manners involved.
I have to admit to feeling a little bit outraged that someone who has done so much for her fellow workers, and the citizens of Glasgow, can be treated so shabbily.
So I am inviting readers to show their solidarity with Frances by raising this issue directly with the Council Leader via email.
In what you might describe as an Glasgow Equal Pay reworking of 'I am Spartacus' - with a new title of 'I am Frances Stojilkovic'.
Here's the kind of email I would encourage claimants to send to the Council Leader Susan Aitken at the following email address: susan.aitken@glasgow.gov.uk
Dear Susan
I understand that your office is 'blanking' Frances Stojilkovic by not returning her calls and emails over a planned meeting for you, as Council Leader, to report back on the progress (or lack of progress) in resolving Glasgow's equal pay claims.
Good manners cost nothing and I am very disappointed to hear that Frances is now being given the 'run around' and treated so disrespectfully.
Can I just say that Frances speaks for me and many other equal pay claimants in Glasgow - We are all Frances Stojilkovic!
So I hope you will reflect on what the claimants have to say on this matter and ask your office to treat Frances with the respect and consideration she deserves.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Insert your name name and email address
