Equal Pay Campaign (08/04/14)



I was at an excellent meeting in Newarthill last night which was attended by around 50 people who are all pursuing equal pay claims against North Lanarkshire Council (NLC). 

Now there were too many points raised at the meeting to cover in just one post, so what I plan to do is to address the various issues three or four at a time and build up what I would call a 'campaign pack' of ideas and information - that people can use in the weeks ahead to turn up the heat on North Lanarkshire Council. 

NLC Employment Tribunal

The Council is having a torrid time at the Employment Tribunal (ET) in Glasgow where, if you ask me, NLC's case is being torn apart by Daphne Romney QC, the barrister who is acting for Action 4 Equality Scotland clients. The Council has now been forced to concede that the scores and gradings of various female dominated jobs are wrong after many years of insisting that these scores and grades were correct. Now how can that happen with no one being held accountable?

Individual claimants are entitled to attend the ET hearings and a regular presence of NLC workers will help send a message to the Council and its senior officials who are responsible for this dog's dinner of a mess over job evaluation. I will post the next round of hearing dates on the blog site and plan to go along myself when I can.


Councillors, MSPs and MPs

In my view, equal pay claimants are entitled to expect the active support of their local councillors, MSPs and MPs especially when the facts are put on the table about the mess the Council has made of its job evaluation scheme - and the fact that traditional male jobs have been assimilated onto the new NLC pay scales by incorporating their previous bonus payments (which were never paid to the women's jobs of course).

In effect the pay differences between male and female jobs have continued and effectively been preserved, which makes a mockery of equal pay if you ask me. So people should ask what their local councillor, MSP or MP has to say about the situation and what they are prepared to do in terms of taking things up with the Council.    


Local Papers

The local papers in North Lanarkshire will be interested to hear what their readers think about equal pay and what's happening inside the Council. One of the claimants at the Newarthill meeting told a remarkable tale about her local Labour MSP. Apparently, far from supporting his constituent, the MSP's advice was that his constituent and her colleagues should withdraw their claims, which sounds a bit bizarre, completely crazy even, if you ask me.

But that's exactly the kind of story that the local papers would be interested in and so I've suggested that these claimants go back and see this individual to clarify the position. If his attitude is still the same, I would write to the local newspaper because I fail to see how a Labour MSP could justify behaving in such an unhelpful way   


Traditional Male Jobs

In other councils, men in the traditional male jobs - refuse workers and gardeners etc - have played a crucial role in passing on information about the differences in pay and the way these jobs are organised. Claimants will often know male workers who work in these jobs as they might be neighbours, relatives or friends. The male workers understand that the fight is with the employer and that no one is attacking their jobs or the pay they receive - because the fight is all about a fair deal for the women workers.

So if anyone has a friend, neighbour or a relative who is able to pass on useful information then drop me a note because I'm happy to meet up and have a word - in complete confidence of course.   


More to follow, so watch this space for news.

Popular posts from this blog

SNP - Conspiracy of Silence

LGB Rights - Hijacked By Intolerant Zealots!