Scottish Water, Baubles and OBEs

I came across this tweet from Labour MSP Jackie Baillie and decided to check on who is running Scottish Water these days via the following link:

https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/about-us/who-we-are/board-members

To my surprise my old Unison colleague Matt Smith is on the Scottish Water board as a non-executive director.

Matt also seems to have built up an impressive list of public appointments since leaving Unison along with an OBE, no less, from Her Majesty the Queen.



As regular readers know, I'm not a big fan of baubles, but there's a whole gaggle of people from Glasgow City Council who were awarded OBEs and suchlike - despite the terrible  mess the council made of equal pay.

More to follow soon.

    

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


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

Unison Finally Rings the Changes (13/02/21)

 

Dave Prentis and Christina McAnea

So Unison has finally rung the changes at the top with Christina McAnea replacing my old colleague Dave Prentis who served as the union's general secretary between 2000-2021.

I used to meet with Christina on a regular basis when I acted as Unison's Head of Local Government in Scotland back in the 1990s - she was part of Keith Sonnet's team of national officers (a talented bunch) who looked after the interests of council and voluntary sector workers across the UK.

Keith Sonnet was a polished performer himself, but far too much of a threat ever to become Unison general secretary, so Dave Prentis settled into the job for just over two decades which is a very 'good innings' as they say. 

The only Unison person I know who's been in the same role for such a long time is the secretary of the union's South Lanarkshire Council branch - Stephen Smellie (pronounced Smiley not Smelly).    

If I remember correctly, Stephen took up his position back in the year 2000 as well and despite the fact that women account for 70% of Unison members - the union in South Lanarkshire Council has never managed to elect a woman as its local branch secretary which is quite remarkable.

But good luck to Christina who hails from Glasgow originally - she spoke at the big rally in George Square in October 2018 on the day of the historic Glasgow city council strike in support of equal pay.    

   


Embarrassment To The Trade Union Movement (22/01/20)


Facebook photo of South Lanarkshire's Stephen Smellie alongside Jeremy Corbyn who in December 2019 led the Labour Party to its worst general election defeat since 1935

A kind reader sent me this Facebook post from Stephen Smellie (pronounced 'Smiley' not Smelly) who is the long standing secretary of the local Unison branch in South Lanarkshire Council.

"The GMB call for COP26 to be taken away from Glasgow is an embarrassment to the trade union movement. This is the union movement's opportunity to ensure that our demands for a Just Transition to a low carbon economy is front and centre in the discussions. It is not the Council who will be funding policing or the other costs and in fact the city stands to make money out of the event due to the numbers visiting. Instead of grandstanding Comrade Smith should get behind the effort to mobilise workers behind those fighting for a future for new industries and new jobs for the trade union members of the future."

How rude, I said to myself when I read Stephen's comments and if you ask me, Stephen has a cheek calling anyone an embarrassment to the trade union movement, for the reasons set out below:

1) Stephen Smellie and the local Unison branch actively discouraged union members from pursuing equal pay claims against South Lanarkshire Council back in 2008/09.

2) Stephen Smellie gave evidence in support of the Council  Management Case at the long running Employment Tribunal hearing over equal pay back in 2013. Mark Irvine gave evidence in support of the largely female Claimants - who won, of course.

3) Stephen Smellie has been the branch secretary of Unison in South Lanarkshire Council for the past 21 years ever since the year 2000 in fact. So for all this time Unison has been 'led' by the same bloke while women make up 70% of the union  membership. 

By the way, I think Gary Smith has a point about how best to spend hundreds of millions of pounds in Glasgow, especially when the city is paying for the huge cost of delivering equal pay without any financial support from the Scottish Government. 

So far at least.  

 

Glasgow, Spending and Climate Change (17/01/20)



The GMB union has a pop the at the eye-watering costs of hosting a major climate change summit later this year,  making the case that there are far more important things on which to spend 'several hundred million' pounds.

Read the full article in the link below to the Evening Times and decide for yourself.

  

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/18162317.gmb-union-calls-glasgow-call-off-major-cop26-climate-change-summit/

GMB union calls for Glasgow to call off major COP26 climate change summit


By Catriona Stewart - Evening Times


A UNION has called for Glasgow to "ditch" hosting a major climate change summit later this year saying the city has its "priorities all wrong".

It emerged today that policing costs for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) will run into "several hundred million pounds".

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called for Westminster to honour a pledge to cover the costs that will be incurred by Police Scotland.

But GMB Scotland says the policing costs will "sicken" frontline council staff and said the event should be moved elsewhere.

GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said: "The prospect of hundreds of millions of pounds of public money spent on policing costs alone will sicken frontline council staff and struggling local communities.

“The world’s political elite will fly in and out of Glasgow later in the year but the city’s many challenges will remain the day after the circus leave town.

“What exactly are we hoping to showcase by hosting this summit?

“Glasgow waste crisis is getting worse – you only need to look at the latest footage of the conditions facing cleansing workers on a daily basis.

“Our home carers are working alone on foot at night to provide basic home care help for some of our most vulnerable citizens.

“The council needs to find an additional £250 million to settle residual equal pay claims for tens of thousands of council staff past and present.

“It also needs to replace its discriminatory WPBR with a new job evaluation system lifts up the pay and conditions of chronically low-paid staff."

An estimated 90,000 people, including around 200 world leaders, will attend the UN’s COP26 summit over 12 days in November.

A report by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) estimates security costs for the event could run to "several hundred million pounds".

The Scottish Government has maintained the bill should be footed by the UK Government, which is hosting the event.

Ms Sturgeon said she welcomes the fact the event is being held in Scotland, but discussions will need to be held over the costs involved.

She earlier told Radio Clyde News: "The UK Government has committed to meeting the policing and other costs and it’s important that they honour that commitment in full, and the Scottish Government will be looking forward to productive discussions to make sure that’s the case."

But Mr Smith added: “Our priorities are all wrong.

"The best thing government could do for Glasgow is to ditch hosting the COP and instead invest the money in dealing with the state of the city.”

A Glasgow City Council said: “Climate change is the biggest issue of our times and any suggestion it should not be considered a priority is extraordinary.

“The simple fact is that COP is of huge significance, both locally and globally.

"Hosting the event presents major opportunities for Glasgow, its communities and the local economy.”


Quite the Year! (02/01/20)



Jeremy Corbyn has been mocked over his upbeat New Year message which completely glosses over Labour's disastrous defeat in last month's general election - the party's worst since 1935.

Instead the erstwhile Labour leader doubled down on his idiotic 'we won the argument' claim with an equally dumb boast about the outcome of the election:

"We have built a movement. We are the resistance to Boris Johnson." 

Now the whole point of elections is winning not losing - and the only thing worse than losing is pretending that you played really well and actually deserved to win. 

Yet the Corbyn-led Labour Party seems quite chipper about the prospect of settling back down to its 'resistance role' on the opposition benches - instead of being seen as a credible party of government.



 

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