Glasgow's Fight for Equal Pay

BBC Scotland contacted me back in August to ask if I would take part in a documentary they were making on the fight for equal pay in Glasgow City Council (GCC).

The BBC were keen, so they said, to focus on those who have been at the heart of this battle for the past 14 years, ever since A4ES burst on to the scene back in 2005, and the presenter (Sam Poling) had a personal interest, so she said, having accompanied me and Stefan Cross to a local meeting in Pollok in the early days of the Glasgow campaign.

I agreed to help even though this was very inconvenient at the time (I was going on holiday the next day) and so the BBC crew came to my house for over three hours to film an in-depth interview to explain why equal pay was still such a big, topical issue after all these years.

As you can imagine, I had plenty to say during the course of such a lengthy discussion, but the key point I wanted to focus on was the woeful role played by GCC's senior officials - who introduced and then did everything the could to defend the council's WPBR pay scheme for 10 long years - during which time thousands of people were effectively 'robbed' of their rights to equal pay.

Even after the Court of Session condemned the WPBR as 'unfit for purpose' in August 2017 senior officials persuaded the new SNP-led Council to try and overturn this landmark decision, in a further appeal to Scotland's highest civil court in December 2017.

But the Court of Session threw out Glasgow's appeal in another unequivocal, hard-hitting judgment which made equal pay history by coming down again, unanimously, on the side of the Claimants who had been treated like second class citizens, by that time, for over a decade.

So if you ask me, the real 'villains' of the piece are the highly paid council officials who introduced the WPBR and then fought for so long to defend practices such as the bizarre '37-hour rule' which discriminated blatantly against Glasgow's largely female workforce.

One of the key players, the Council's current chief executive, Annemarie O'Donnell, was the architect of Glasgow's WPBR legal defence which blew up so badly in the Council's face at the Court of Session in August 2017 and again in December 2017.

Annemarie O'Donnell was a key figure in setting up Cordia, an arms-length body which sought to deny Glasgow's equal pay claimants the ability to compare their earnings with the higher paid male council workers (see post below dated 13 April 2018).

Annemarie has also been responsible for the Council's FoI regime which over recent years has consistently refused to explain the background to the WPBR (who commissioned the scheme, what were its terms of reference, who signed off its key provisions etc etc?) using the pathetic 'defence' that providing this information would cost the Council more than £600 - against the background of an equal pay settlement which ultimately cost Glasgow taxpayers more than £500 million.

Now the job of these very senior council officials (the highest paid local government officials in Scotland by the way) was to look after and protect the interests of the whole workforce including, of course, the lowest paid.

Yet they did the exact opposite - they designed a new WPBR pay system which preserved all the old, discriminatory pay differentials between male and female jobs - and then fought tooth and nail, for years and years, to deny the Claimants their just rights over equal pay.

To add insult to injury, many of them moved on or retired with generous severance packages, early access to their final salary pensions and even public honours from Her Majesty the Queen - in the shape of an OBE, MBE and CBE (see post below dated 30 June 2018).

So imagine my surprise when the BBC rang me up at the weekend to say they had decided to cut my interview from their documentary programme due to a lack of space, would you believe!

Now I'm not the kind of person who craves publicity or seeks out the limelight, so I'm not remotely disappointed from a personal point of view, and I know also that my friend and colleague Stefan Cross is more than capable of standing up for the Claimants whilst flying the flag for A4ES.

But I will be very disappointed if the role played by Glasgow's senior officials is glossed over or, worse still, airbrushed out of the programme altogether because that would be a terrible travesty, a cowardly cop-out and a serious lack of judgment from the BBC and its journalists.

Glasgow's Shame Over ALEOs (13/04/18)

Here's an astonishing email which has been sent to the 'Council Family' at Glasgow City Council by the council's chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell.

Now I'm not part of the 'Council Family' but if I were, I'd be absolutely furious at the way the council's top boss has quietly glossed over her own role in creating Glasgow's ALEOs back in 2007 - and the fact that one of the main purposes for these arm's length companies was to try and assist the City Council to wriggle out of its obligations over equal pay.

Once the ALEOs were in place, senior and very highly paid officials argued that they were completely independent and separate employers from Glasgow City Council.

So, in their eyes of these senior officials, equal pay claimants could no longer compare their earnings with the much higher pay of Council employees outside of their own ALEO, Cordia being the prime example.

And if council officials had succeeded with this ploy, the perfectly valid equal pay claims of thousands of Home Care workers and other low paid Cordia staff would now be 'dead in the water'.

After all this time, Annemarie O'Donnell is having to eat her own words by dismantling these 'arm's length' companies which have proved very costly to the public purse and to Cordia staff who are employed on much less favourable conditions than the rest of the council workforce.

If you ask me, the City Council has made the right decision in making this policy U-turn, but the political leaders of the council should be telling the chief executive it's time to move on and find a new challenege elsewhere.

Because Annemarie O'Donnell has played a crucial role throughout this shameful ALEO episode, both in terms of establishing these arm's length bodies and in presiding over pay arrangements which treated Cordia's largely female workforce as second class citizens.

Subject: Council Family Review Update: message from Annemarie O'Donnell Chief Executive

I want to keep you up to date about proposed changes to the council family structure as a result of the ongoing council family review, which aims to make sure we have the most efficient and effective operating model to deliver best value services for the city.

A report is going to the council’s City Administration Committee for a decision on 19 April about the future of Cordia and the services delivered by Community Safety Glasgow on our behalf.

Cordia

We have reviewed the services that Cordia deliver and we are recommending that these vital services for citizens can be delivered more efficiently under other council services, as outlined below, and Cordia LLPs can be wound up, although the brand name of Cordia and Encore could be retained. This will allow us to remove duplication and streamline services to make them more efficient. Cordia staff would also transfer to the council services below.

*   Homecare and associated care services including operational support and contact services to be transferred to Social Work Services under the direction of the Health and Social Care partnership.

*   Facilities Management services including catering to be transferred to Property and Land Services, Development and Regeneration Services.

*   Remaining support staff would transfer to an appropriate functional area in the council including: human resources, finance, communications, procurement and business administration.

Community Safety Glasgow

We have also reviewed the services that Community Safety Glasgow (CSG) deliver on our behalf and are recommending that these services can be more efficiently delivered under the management of the Executive Director for Neighbourhoods and Sustainability. CSG support staff would also transfer to an appropriate functional area in the council including: human resources, finance, communications, business administration and facilities.

Best value services for the city

The council has an ongoing responsibility to review its structures and the delivery of its services to make sure that we continue to meet legislative changes, avoid duplication and deliver best value efficient and effective services for the city. We also need to consider that the shape of the council family has changed since the ALEOs were established and new legislative partnerships have been formed, including the Health and Social Care partnership with the NHS and the more recent Glasgow Community Planning Partnership.

With all this in mind, the recommendations in the report are a result of more detailed business cases with input from all affected areas of the council family to achieve the best operating model for council services.

Next Steps

All affected staff will receive a communication about how these proposals could affect them from the directors of the organisation they work for. If the proposals in the report are approved, an implementation plan will be developed with a view to staff transfers taking place no later than 30 September 2018 for Cordia and 31 March 2019 for CSG.

I will communicate the decision of the committee after this has been taken on 19 April. The full report will be published in the public meeting agenda on Friday 13 April on council’s website here< http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/latestMeetings.asp?sort=2&page=1>

Regards,

Annemarie O’Donnell
Chief Executive

Glasgow's Shame Over ALEOs (17/02/18)

Here's a little reminder that the appalling decision to set up Glasgow's ALEOs (Arms Length External Organisations) was headed up by the City Council's current chief executive Annemarie O'Donnell - see article below from Holyrood Magazine.

Following a two year secondment as deputy director of social work services, she returned to corporate services in 2007, serving as assistant director and head of external governance as the council established its ALEOs.

Now since the real reason for setting up ALEOs in the first place was a shameful attempt to circumvent the Glasgow City Council's obligations over equal pay, surely it's time close these organisations down.

Yet again the Court of Session sent Glasgow City Council packing and if you ask me, the politicians and officials behind this crazy scheme owe the workforce an apology.

Glasgow - Equal Pay Update (09/01/18)

Here's an interesting article from 'Holyrood Magazine' which was published back in 2014 just as Annemarie O'Donnell's was appointed as the new and first woman chief executive of Glasgow City Council.

The upshot is that Annemarie has been in a variety of senior positions within the council for a very long time - through the Christmas 2005 'capped' settlement offers, the introduction of the WPBR in 2007 and the establishment of Glasgow's ALEOs - before succeeding Ian Drummond as executive director of corporate services and then George Black as CEO.

What puzzles me though is why there has been such a long and hard fight for equal pay in Glasgow when the City Council has such powerful women in its senior ranks?

Regular readers will know that Carole Forrest succeeded Annemarie as executive director of corporate services (which deals with Freedom of Information requests) and that Glasgow now has a woman Lord Provost (Eva Bolander) and a woman council leader (Susan Aitken).

The political changes at the top of the City Council are relatively recent, of course, but isn't it remarkable that the battle over equal pay has been so fierce in Glasgow - even with women officials in the most senior positions.

https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/new-chief-executive-glasgow-city-council

New chief executive for Glasgow City Council

Written by Kate Shannon on 12 November 2014 in News

Annemarie O’Donnell has been appointed

Glasgow City Council has appointed a new chief executive to replace George Black, who retires next month.

Annemarie O’Donnell, who has been the council’s executive director of corporate services since 2011, was chosen for the role last week.

Black announced his retirement in August and will leave the council on 11 December.

Councillor Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “The quality of candidates was exceptionally high but Annemarie brings a wealth of experience, passion and vision to the role and was the unanimous choice of the interview panel.

"There has never been a more exciting time to work in Glasgow, with the city in the spotlight like never before following the best ever Commonwealth Games and the signing of Scotland’s first city deal. I am in no doubt that Annemarie is the best possible choice to lead our dedicated and talented staff through the next chapter in our city’s long and proud history.

“I also want to take this opportunity to thank George Black for his exceptional work on behalf of the city and wish him every happiness and success in the future.”

I believe we have the energy, the ideas and, crucially, the best people to meet those challenges

O’Donnell, 49, is a qualified solicitor and a member of the Law Society of Scotland. She has two adult children and her husband is a lawyer specialising in criminal law.

After joining Glasgow District Council from a legal practice in the east end of Glasgow in 1991, she worked as a solicitor and then senior solicitor in a team focusing on construction, housing and planning.

Following local government reorganisation in 1996, she was promoted to chief solicitor, leading the council’s work on commercial contracts, procurement, planning and environmental law.

In 2003, O’Donnell was appointed assistant head of legal and administrative services, a new post that saw her take responsibility for the running of elections for the first time – along with committee services, registrars, litigation, licensing and corporate law.

Following a two year secondment as deputy director of social work services, she returned to corporate services in 2007, serving as assistant director and head of external governance as the council established its ALEOs.

She said: “I am delighted and humbled to have been appointed. This is a really exciting time for Glasgow. There is no doubt the next few years will be challenging for everyone in local government. But I believe we have the energy, the ideas and, crucially, the best people to meet those challenges.”

Read Holyrood’s full interview with George Black here.

Glasgow's Shame Over ALEOs (14/02/18)

How's this for a nonsense story from the Evening Times?

Services provided by ALEOs are part of Glasgow City Council yet they are being spoken about here as if they 'owe' the council money!

Glasgow's ALEOs were set up by a previous Labour administration in a effort to escape the council's obligations over equal pay.

At the time, Glasgow argued that ALEOs were completely separate employers and independent legal entities which meant (they said) that workers employed in ALEOs could not compare their pay to comparable (male) workers in other parts of the council.

A4ES challenged this argument in the Court of Session and won which is a good thing if you ask me, because were it not for this ruling the fight for equal pay in Glasgow would have been stopped in its tracks years ago.

But it just goes to show you what sneaky moves and dirty tricks these senior officials get up to given half a chance.

As everyone now knows, staff working for Cordia who predominantly women, of course, are employed on poorer pay and conditions than those working in other male dominated areas of the council, e.g. Land Services and City Building!

Arise, Sir Mark! (30/06/18)

I have been battling with Glasgow City Council since January 2018 to get an answer to an FOI Request in which I asked for details about the cost of introducing the WPBR pay scheme.

Initially the Council said it did not have any of this information which struck me as rather odd because the whole business of Equal Pay and the WPBR is (and was) the biggest single employment-related event in the history of Glasgow City Council.

So you would think that the Council's senior and very highly paid officials would have scribbled the odd note for posterity, just in case future generations decided to ask:

"Where did all the money go and what was it spent on?"

But to get round the problem of what I call the 'Manuel Defence' or 'I know nothing defence' I wrote to the Council suggesting that some of its former senior officials be contacted to see if they could help get to the bottom of things.

Here's the letter I sent to Carole Forrest at the time in an effort to persuade the Council to go that 'extra mile' in tracking down this important information.

Sadly the Council rejected my helpful suggestion and so I registered an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner and what do you know?

All of a sudden the Council found some more information which had been 'overlooked' first time around and I am now in the happy position of being able to share this news via my blog site.

I will do this in the next day or so but in the meantime I have discovered that as well as Lynn Brown receiving an OBE 'for services to local government and charity', so too did Elma Murray (for services to local government, education and the economy), while George Black trumped them both with his CBE 'for services to local government'.

So George is a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire while his two women colleagues are mere Officers of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire which strikes me a teeny, weeny bit sexist.

I suspect my own nomination for a Knighthood or CBE 'for services in the long fight for equal pay in Scotland's councils' must have got lost in the post.

31 January 2018

Carole Forrest

Director of Governance and Solicitor to the Council

Glasgow City Council

By email to: FOIReviews@glasgow.gov.uk and carole.forrest@ced.glasgow.gov.uk

Dear Carole

FOISA Review Request - Your Ref: RQST6467009

I refer to your letter dated 9 January 2018 regarding the monies paid by Glasgow City Council (GCC) to Hays HR Consulting to design an develop the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR).

I am minded to appeal Glasgow's decision to the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC), but before doing so I would be grateful if you could clarify what effort, if any, the City Council has made to retrieve this information from the following potential sources.

1) Lynn Brown - GCC's former Director of Finance

Glasgow's former Director of Finance left the City Council's employment a relatively short time ago, in September 2016 if I remember correctly, and I imagine she must be easy to contact at this point in time. I met Lynn Brown during my dealings with GCC as a member of SLARC (Scottish Local Authorities Remuneration Committee) and I was impressed with her forensic knowledge of Glasgows finances.

I understand that Lynn was Glasgow's Director of Finance from 2003 until 2016 and given the unique circumstances surrounding the commissioning of the WPBR from Hays HR Consulting, I suspect Lynn could help to identify the costs involved.

I also understand than Lynn was awarded an OBE for services to local government in the New Year Honours list for 2016, so I suspect she would be more than happy to assist the City Council in this matter.

2) Elma Murray - GCC's former Head of Organisational Change

Glasgow's former 'Head of Organisational Change and Depute Director of Finance' was in post, I believe, during the relevant period up until 2009 and I have seen Elma's name on a variety of important documents relating to the WPBR including reports on the Employee Development Commitment (EDC) Steering Group, for example.

I understand that Elma is now the chief executive of North Lanarkshire Council and while I don't know Elma personally, I would imagine that she would also be willing to help GCC get to the bottom of my FOI request.

3) Ian Drummond - GCC's former Executive Director of Corporate Services

Ian Drummond is Glasgow's former Executive Director of Corporate Services and I am sure Ian must have played a pivotal part in awarding the WPBR contract to Hays HR Consulting.

As you know, Ian Drummond was the subject of a previous FOI Review Request from me which went all the way to the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) who upheld my subsequent appeal. The City Council contacted Ian Drummond directly about my initial FOISA Request, even though he had retired from the council's employment in 2010.

Which means there is a useful precedent for contacting former senior officials on matters of public interest and importance.

4) George Black - GCC's former Chief Executive

As Glasgow's former Chief Executive and Director of Finance I would say that George Black's knowledge of the City Council is second to none, so he would seem an obvious person to contact, especially as George only left the council's employment at the end of 2014.

In summary, I would be grateful to know what steps the City Council has taken to contact these various individuals in an effort to respond to my original FOISA Request and if the answer is 'none', whether the City Council is prepared to do so now in order to avoid a potentially unnecessary appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

I look forward to your reply and would be grateful if you could respond to me by email at: markirvine@compuserve.com

Kind regards

Mark Irvine

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