Glasgow's Fight for Equal Pay
This week marks the anniversary of the Court of Session's decision to reject an appeal from Glasgow City Council which sought to overturn an earlier judgement condemning the Council's WPBR pay scheme as 'unfit for purpose'.
The actual hearing took place on Friday 22 December 2017 and it was a truly wonderful day because three senior judges delivered reaffirmed their 'unfit for purpose' judgement from August 2017 - with yet another unanimous decision in Scotland's highest civil court.
A landmark day in the fight for equal pay and while the Court's decision came as no surprise what has never been explained is how the Council came to launch this appeal in the first place.
Because if, as Council Leader Susan Aitken insists, senior officials always act under 'political direction' then who authorised this further appeal to the Court of Session which set the settlement process back on its heels for another four months.
I have no doubt either that if the decision had gone the other way, the Council would have tried to use this to their advantage in subsequent settlement negotiations and continued with their stubborn defence of the WPBR.
The Claimants face a similar situation now, as settlement talks continue into 2019, because the Council has made clear its willingness to defend the WPBR and its 37 hour 'rule', if negotiations break down and all the cases head back to the Employment Tribunals in February and April 2019.
If this does happen, the SNP-led Council will be in the ludicrous position of defending a discredited WPBR pay scheme which senior councillors have already admitted is 'completely discriminatory'.
Make sense of that if you will, but it seems an untenable position to me because the SNP has been slagging the Labour Party off (and rightly so) over its handling of equal pay for years - and has been using the WPBR as a stick to bash Labour over the head (understandably as well).
So if you ask me, SNP-led Glasgow defending the WPBR at the Employment Tribunals makes about as much sense as SNP-led Glasgow trying to overturn a landmark decision from Scottish highest civil court - by seeking support from the UK Supreme Court in London.
Glasgow - Readers' Comments (14/12/17)
More readers' comments about the prospect of the City Council proceeding with an appeal to try and overturn the unanimous decision of Scotland's highest civil court, the Court of Session, that Glasgow's WPBR pay scheme is 'unfit for purpose'
Susan Aitken get you finger out your ass and get us paid out we have waited long enough now No more empty promises!
F
Anyone can make fabulous speeches and talk a good game but when their actions do not match up with what they say then I do not believe in the person. Appealing is an action and that is the real intention as it is the only real thing happening.
T
If an SNP led council appeal to the UK court then the SNP will be rediculed and can hardly continue to seek independence. If they can not accept a Scottish court's decision then they proved they still need London.
T
I'm sure this issue is going to return with a vengeance in the New Year when the City Council will have to make its position clear.
I'm sure this issue is going to return with a vengeance in the New Year when the City Council will have to make its position clear.
Glasgow - Readers' Comments (13/12/17)
Let me get this.The SNP said they would have this dealt with quickly, now we have the SNP led Glasgow City Council seeking leave to appeal to the UK Supreme Court.
This is the independence screaming Scottish government now using the UK laws to get out of paying their employees the money they are due because the Scottish supreme courts laws aren't good enough.
Double standards me thinks.
The magic roundabout is about to start.
ALL ABOARD!
L
Now the reader makes a fair point if you ask me, because it would look extremely strange politically if the SNP-led City Council were to ask a UK court to overturn the unanimous decision of Scotland's highest civil court.
Especially when it doesn't take a legal genius to understand that Glasgow's discredited WPBR pay scheme set out to favour traditional male jobs at the expense of lower paid female dominated jobs done by carers, cooks, catering staff, cleaners, clerical workers, classroom assistants and so on.
And it would look even more strange if Glasgow's eight MSPs (all SNP of course) were not standing up and speaking out loudly and clearly in support of their local constituents.
Glasgow - Equal Pay Update (12/12/17)
See the "Breaking News' post below and the update from Stefan Cross QC.
Now it's early days yet and no agreement has been reached on any of the big issues, but the 'mood music' appears to have changed which is good news if you ask me, so long as the claimants start to see some real results in the New Year.
In my view, the biggest issue of all is the GCC's application to appeal the Court of Session's WPBR decision to the UK Supreme Court because this has the potential to delay things and kick the settlement process into the long grass.
Now I can't see this happening because the Leader of the Council, Susan Aitken, has repeatedly said that the SNP-led administration has no intention of pursuing the case to the UK Supreme Court - even though GCC is asking the Court of Session for 'leave to appeal'.
A major reason for GCC not pursuing an appeal to UK Supreme Court in London is that the WPBR is now completely discredited, after being roundly roundly criticised by three senior judges in the Court of Session who unanimously decided that Glasgow's pay arrangements are 'unfit for purpose'.
Another important reason is that the SNP would surely pay a very heavy price in terms of its political reputation, if the party were to run off down to London to try and overturn a decision from Scotland's highest civil court - when all eight of Glasgow's Holyrood MSPs are SNP supporters including the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
How would that make the SNP and the Scottish Government look in the eyes of Glasgow council workers and voters, given the justice of the claimants' case and its powerful backing from the Court of Session?
A third big reason for Glasgow to ditch the UK Supreme Court is the cost to the City Council because the ultimate bill will increase hugely, if the council 'bets the house' again and loses a further appeal - on the advice of officials and advisers who have been defending the indefensible over equal pay for the past 10 years.
So it's all to play for as they say and next week sees another important diary date with Glasgow 'leave to appeal' petition being heard by another panel of judges in the Court of Session.
