NLC Update (19/01/15)



A number of readers from North Lanarkshire have been in touch to say that they're quite disappointed that this week's Employment Tribunal hearing is no longer going ahead because it gives the impression that the leadership of the Council is not being held to account for the mess they've made of equal pay over the years.

Well I have to say that I know exactly how they feel because I would have dearly liked to see Iris Wylie and the chief executive explain how all these 'mistakes' were made and who was responsible for important documents going missing, for example, especially when you consider that senior officials in NLC have been getting paid big bonuses for 'good' performance ever since 2002. 

So I'm still doing my best to get answers to these questions - the Council is due to respond to my latest FOI request tomorrow (20 January) and as regular readers know  North Lanarkshire has also been ordered by the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) to release to me, this week, a copy of an important report to the Council's Corporate Management Team (CMT) from August 2005.

And just because there are settlement discussions underway and a possible settlement in sight, there's no reason to to stop asking demanding questions of the Council; in fact it would be good if the trade unions joined in as well.

If you ask me, there ought to be an independent review of the North Lanarkshire's handling of equal pay which would focus on the role of senior officials and elected councillors, particularly in relation to the new job evaluation scheme (JES) and the implementation of new local pay arrangements in 2006/07.

Now the unions may be reluctant to do this because far too many of their senior people are members and supporters of the Labour Party which, in my personal experience, makes the unions reluctant to stand up to Labour-run councils, so they often pull their punches and mute their criticism.

But let's hope the unions see the sense in calling for some independent scrutiny of the North Lanarkshire's behaviour because I'm sure it's exactly the kind of proposal that every fair-minded, right-minded employee of the Council would support.

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