Equal pay secured
The GMB general and UNISON public services unions have scored a major equal pay win for thousands of female members employed by Glasgow City Council, Scotland’s largest local authority.
In a legal case backed by the two unions, the Scottish Court of Session has confirmed that the women were denied bonuses for many years and further discriminated against when the council decided to continue the unequal system and denied the women pay protection.
The council was appealing an Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling that it had continued to discriminate against women by introducing payment protections upholding the level of earnings of male colleagues once the equal pay issues had been raised.
There are so many claimants — around 6,000 women are understood to be affected — and such significant sums at stake that the council is looking at a pay-out running into many millions of pounds.
GMB Scotland secretary Gary Smith explained that the judgment “paves the way for thousands of low-paid women” working in local government “to claim justice”.
Mike Kirby, UNISON’s Scottish secretary emphasised that the members had “already waited long enough to receive the pay they have worked hard for and deserve”.
Suzanne Craig, UNISON’s legal officer explained that the victory would deliver money for women who should have been paid more before the national single status agreement reached in 1997, and were then excluded from pay protection after single status.