North Lanarkshire Update
As the summer holiday season in Scotland begins to draw to a close, I think this is probably a good time to post a brief update about the the ongoing fight for equal pay in North Lanarkshire.
As regular readers know a series of meetings has been arranged during August to pursue settlement talks with the Council, but if these discussions do not result in real progress towards resolving all the outstanding equal pay claims, then all the cases will return immediately to the Employment Tribunal in Glasgow.
For obvious reasons, there will not be a 'running commentary' on the settlement discussions with the Council, but as soon as there is any news to report (one way or the other) the details will be published here on the A4ES blog site.
Lots of people will have been on holiday during July and so I plan to re-post various articles from the blog site about North Lanarkshire, which have been published over the past month or so, to bring everyone bang up to date.
I have been as active as ever on the Freedom of Information (FoI) front and there are some very interesting developments to share with readers from North Lanarkshire.
So watch this space.
Trade Union Democracy (2 July 2014)
Here's a quote from Unite which accompanies their ballot on a new pay and grading structure in North Lanarkshire which I wrote about the other day.
"Unite has worked hard to obtain these proposals whilst protecting your ongoing terms and conditions and feel that these moves are positive in relation to pay equality and preventing the need for future equal pay claims against the Council. Ultimately this benefits all employees as there is less of a strain on the Councils (sic) budget."
Now I don't know what the strain on the Council's budget has to do with anything because North Lanarkshire's problems with equal pay are entirely of the Council's own making.
So why should the workforce hold back when the senior officials of the Council who were supposed to be looking after their interests have made such a mess of job evaluation?
While handing themselves big bonuses via a highly controversial performance pay scheme, as exposed by The Sunday Herald.
If you ask me, Unite members would be better served if the union spent more of its millions (which is members' money of course) campaigning on issues like equal pay and much less in bankrolling the Labour Party.
Now that would be a big step forward for trade union democracy and common sense.
Union Ballot - Vote No! (26 June 2014)
I have now seen the union 'ballot' documents which I mentioned yesterday - they are from Unite but the GMB and Unison may have similar plans.
In any event, my suspicions have been confirmed because there's no doubt in my mind that the union is up to no good if they are recommending changes to the pay and grading structure while important settlement talks are underway.
If you ask me, it makes absolutely no sense unless the union is trying to do the Council a 'favour' - and why would they do that when thousands of equal pay claims remain unresolved.
The Unite documents says that most people will be slightly better off as a result of the proposed changes, but what they don't explain is what people stand to gain if they leave things as they are until all the outstanding equal pay claims are settled.
Unbelievably, the covering letter from Unite (which is recommending acceptance) says:
"We have a clause in the Agreement which allows the proposals to be revised if current Equal Pay Employment Tribunals throw up any issues"
But exactly what does this 'mumbo jumbo' mean - who would be daft enough to trust the Council in the present situation and why don't member's have a copy of the proposed Agreement so they can see what it says for themselves?
So if I were a union member in North Lanarkshire I would be voting No and kicking up hell at the union holding a ballot when lots of people are going on holiday and without any answers to all the ongoing issues to do with equal pay.
And isn't it odd that there's been no information from the Council (who is after all the employer) about what's going on?
If you ask me, the union are not being completely straight with its own members and is in real danger of doing the employer's dirty work.
I have now seen the union 'ballot' documents which I mentioned yesterday - they are from Unite but the GMB and Unison may have similar plans.
In any event, my suspicions have been confirmed because there's no doubt in my mind that the union is up to no good if they are recommending changes to the pay and grading structure while important settlement talks are underway.
If you ask me, it makes absolutely no sense unless the union is trying to do the Council a 'favour' - and why would they do that when thousands of equal pay claims remain unresolved.
The Unite documents says that most people will be slightly better off as a result of the proposed changes, but what they don't explain is what people stand to gain if they leave things as they are until all the outstanding equal pay claims are settled.
Unbelievably, the covering letter from Unite (which is recommending acceptance) says:
"We have a clause in the Agreement which allows the proposals to be revised if current Equal Pay Employment Tribunals throw up any issues"
But exactly what does this 'mumbo jumbo' mean - who would be daft enough to trust the Council in the present situation and why don't member's have a copy of the proposed Agreement so they can see what it says for themselves?
So if I were a union member in North Lanarkshire I would be voting No and kicking up hell at the union holding a ballot when lots of people are going on holiday and without any answers to all the ongoing issues to do with equal pay.
And isn't it odd that there's been no information from the Council (who is after all the employer) about what's going on?
If you ask me, the union are not being completely straight with its own members and is in real danger of doing the employer's dirty work.
Stop Press! (25 June 2014)
A reader from North Lanarkshire has been in touch to say that she has received ballot papers from her trade union about a new pay and grading structure within the Council.
Now I haven't seen the documents as yet, but I find it highly suspicious that a trade union should be conducting a ballot about new pay arrangements and term-time arrangements when there are so many issues unresolved from the ongoing Employment Tribunal.
If you ask me, the timing is also completely mad as the schools are now breaking-up for the summer holidays which means that people are unable to discuss what's going on at their workplaces, as normal.
I am making arrangements to see these papers although if anyone can scan and email them to me, that would help speed things up - markirvine@compuserve.com
In the meantime, if I were a trade union member in North Lanarkshire I would certainly not be voting to support or bring in any new changes at this pint in time.
Instead I would insist that the Council is required to explain how it intends to settle all the outstanding equal pay claims and address the evident failings in its job evaluation scheme (JES) which have been exposed so brutally at the ongoing Employment Tribunal.
Remember the Employment Tribunal has only been suspended to allow settlement discussions to take place and will start up again in late August/September 2014 if agreement is not reached.
A reader from North Lanarkshire has been in touch to say that she has received ballot papers from her trade union about a new pay and grading structure within the Council.
Now I haven't seen the documents as yet, but I find it highly suspicious that a trade union should be conducting a ballot about new pay arrangements and term-time arrangements when there are so many issues unresolved from the ongoing Employment Tribunal.
If you ask me, the timing is also completely mad as the schools are now breaking-up for the summer holidays which means that people are unable to discuss what's going on at their workplaces, as normal.
If you ask me, the timing is also completely mad as the schools are now breaking-up for the summer holidays which means that people are unable to discuss what's going on at their workplaces, as normal.
I am making arrangements to see these papers although if anyone can scan and email them to me, that would help speed things up - markirvine@compuserve.com
In the meantime, if I were a trade union member in North Lanarkshire I would certainly not be voting to support or bring in any new changes at this pint in time.
Instead I would insist that the Council is required to explain how it intends to settle all the outstanding equal pay claims and address the evident failings in its job evaluation scheme (JES) which have been exposed so brutally at the ongoing Employment Tribunal.
Remember the Employment Tribunal has only been suspended to allow settlement discussions to take place and will start up again in late August/September 2014 if agreement is not reached.
Instead I would insist that the Council is required to explain how it intends to settle all the outstanding equal pay claims and address the evident failings in its job evaluation scheme (JES) which have been exposed so brutally at the ongoing Employment Tribunal.
Remember the Employment Tribunal has only been suspended to allow settlement discussions to take place and will start up again in late August/September 2014 if agreement is not reached.
Bonus Culture (14 March 2014)
Here's one that made me laugh back in 2012 and to think that all these senior officials were responsible for good governance within the Council.
What must the workforce in North Lanarkshire think of these people, especially the thousands of low paid workers who are still fighting for equal pay?
Just the other day we learned that the Council has been forced to admit that the scores and grades (which determine people's pay) were wrong, yet no one has come forward to explain how this happened and to accept responsibility for what is clearly a terrible mess.
Bonus Culture (26 March 2012)
The Sunday Herald performed a public service yesterday - by revealing the details of secret bonus payments - made to the most senior officials in North Lanarkshire Council.
Paul Hutcheon - the newspaper's investigations editor - has used Scotland's Freedom of Information legislation - to expose these controversial payments - which are a scandal to my mind.
And predictably North Lanarkshire Council fought tooth and nail - to keep the details under wraps.
I will have more to say on this later today - because I imagine the news will make people's blood boil in North Lanarkshire - especially those who have been fighting for equal pay all these years.
But in the meantime - here's a copy of the article from the Sunday Herald.
Revealed: £200,000 bonuses council tried to keep quiet
A cash-strapped local authority has failed in its attempt to block the release of documents detailing nearly £200,000 in bonus-style payments to senior staff.
North Lanarkshire forced to reveal details of staff’s performance-related top-ups
North Lanarkshire Council was forced to publish the income top-ups of employees already earning six-figure sums after being ordered to release the information.
John Wilson, an SNP MSP for Central Scotland, said the disclosure was a victory for "open and transparent government".
The council, which has cut services in recent years, is one of the last Scottish authorities to hand out "performance-related pay" (PRP) to nearly 30 senior officers as part of their salary package.
In January last year, the Sunday Herald asked for the exact payments made to each staff member in 2010, a request that was knocked back.
The dispute then reached the office of the Scottish Information Commissioner.
In its submission, the council argued that exact PRP had privacy issues for the individuals concerned and would reveal information about performance.
However, the commissioner rejected this view and ordered disclosure: "There is a general interest in ensuring that public authorities are transparent and accountable in relation to the way they spend public money, and this extends to understanding how much money is paid to senior officers of the council on top of their salary."
The information, which has now been released by the council, shows that 29 staff scooped approximately £184,000 in extra payments.
The biggest winner was chief executive Gavin Whitefield, who received £12,050 on top of his £136,848 salary.
Five executive directors, earning £113,250 in salary, received more than £9000 each, as did assistant chief executive John Ellerby.
More than 20 heads of service, earning between £77,166 and £85,761, each took home PRP of approximately £4000 to £6000.
The commissioner also ordered the council to release the names of everyone who assessed the payments.
Some awards were presided over by the CEO, the assistant chief executive, or one of the five executive directors. All seven of these senior officers received PRP themselves.
At the same time as paying bonuses to senior officers, the council has shed jobs, cut services and frozen the pay of the workforce.
Wilson said: "The decision to instruct North Lanarkshire Council to release the PRP awards for senior council officials is another victory for open and transparent government.
"The fact that these officials continue to receive PRP at a time when ordinary staff salaries are not only being frozen, but they are also facing cuts in their hours or redundancy, is a scandal."
A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: "In relation to performance-related pay, it is incorrect to describe this as a bonus on top of normal salary. A proportion of chief officers' contractual salary is assessed against specific objectives and an award made accordingly.
"The decision the council took some time ago was based on an honest assessment of balancing access to information with data protection requirements about personal information.
Nostradamus in NLC (13 March 2013)
Now I don't possess any mystical powers and my middle name is not Nostradamus, so maybe the simple answer is that I actually know what I'm talking about, as was shown to be the case in South Lanarkshire Council very recently, of course.
The task now is to ensure that the North Lanarkshire comes to its senses while demanding to know how the Council 'bigwigs' got themselves into such a terrible mess in the first place, and all at the taxpayers' expense it should be pointed out.
North Lanarkshire Council (5 December 2007)
After months of delay and foot dragging by the council, things are now beginning to hot up in North Lanarkshire - more to follow including news from the Employment Tribunals - but here's a brief summary of events so far.
In February/March 2006, North Lanarkshire tried to persuade its workforce into accepting a new pay and grading structure. Rather oddly, management and trade unions were singing from exactly the same hymn sheet - that is until Action 4 Equality arrived on the scene and explained to people that they were being sold a pig in a poke.
The proposed deal blew up in disarray- as angry North Lanarkshire workers voted the scheme down by an overwhelming majority - after a series of workplace meetings and secret ballot.
In the summer of 2006, council managers announced they would press ahead anyway - by imposing the package over people's heads and despite having lost a vote - that was so vital to their plans just months earlier.
A key part of the package was a new was a new Job Evaluation Scheme (JES) which assessed, ranked and graded all North Lanarkshire Council jobs - but to this day the JES has never been agreed by the workforce or the trade unions.
In November 2006, the council introduced its new pay and grading structure - resulting in several hundred additional unfair dismissal claims (on top of existing equal pay claims) - because the council was imposing a new contract of employment - without the agreement of its employees.
The council then gave each employee details of the new grading structure - but only on a personal and individual basis - crucial information about how other council jobs had fared was deliberately withheld .
Why? Because the management wanted to prevent people from understanding how other jobs (especially the male jobs) had done out of the re-grading exercise - after all the employers and trade unions had been keeping low paid women workers in the dark for years.
In terms of the new JES, the council and the unions were cooking the books (behind the scenes) to protect the interests of the traditional bonus earning - and predominantly male - jobs. Now North Lanarkshire is boasting about the millions of pounds they've saved - compared to other councils - and all because they've got such a cosy relationship with their trade unions.
But now these chickens are coming home to roost - because the new North Lanarkshire grading structure shows that many of the key female dominated jobs have done very badly - surprise, surprise - compared the their male counterparts.
Over the next week or so we will publish some of the more glaring examples of the many women's jobs that have been scored poorly and come out badly - while other male jobs have sailed through the process completely unscathed.
Watch this space - more to follow.
In February/March 2006, North Lanarkshire tried to persuade its workforce into accepting a new pay and grading structure. Rather oddly, management and trade unions were singing from exactly the same hymn sheet - that is until Action 4 Equality arrived on the scene and explained to people that they were being sold a pig in a poke.
The proposed deal blew up in disarray- as angry North Lanarkshire workers voted the scheme down by an overwhelming majority - after a series of workplace meetings and secret ballot.
In the summer of 2006, council managers announced they would press ahead anyway - by imposing the package over people's heads and despite having lost a vote - that was so vital to their plans just months earlier.
A key part of the package was a new was a new Job Evaluation Scheme (JES) which assessed, ranked and graded all North Lanarkshire Council jobs - but to this day the JES has never been agreed by the workforce or the trade unions.
In November 2006, the council introduced its new pay and grading structure - resulting in several hundred additional unfair dismissal claims (on top of existing equal pay claims) - because the council was imposing a new contract of employment - without the agreement of its employees.
The council then gave each employee details of the new grading structure - but only on a personal and individual basis - crucial information about how other council jobs had fared was deliberately withheld .
Why? Because the management wanted to prevent people from understanding how other jobs (especially the male jobs) had done out of the re-grading exercise - after all the employers and trade unions had been keeping low paid women workers in the dark for years.
In terms of the new JES, the council and the unions were cooking the books (behind the scenes) to protect the interests of the traditional bonus earning - and predominantly male - jobs. Now North Lanarkshire is boasting about the millions of pounds they've saved - compared to other councils - and all because they've got such a cosy relationship with their trade unions.
But now these chickens are coming home to roost - because the new North Lanarkshire grading structure shows that many of the key female dominated jobs have done very badly - surprise, surprise - compared the their male counterparts.
Over the next week or so we will publish some of the more glaring examples of the many women's jobs that have been scored poorly and come out badly - while other male jobs have sailed through the process completely unscathed.
Watch this space - more to follow.
