Scots councils face claims for retrospective equal pay

Local government unions in Scotland are stepping up their campaigns to secure compensation for past pay inequalities.

Last month UNISON submitted a compensation claim for 1,700 Edinburgh City Council staff, most of them women, in catering, social and domiciliary care and cleaning posts.

The union accused the council of trying to avoid paying compensation by outsourcing the affected jobs, and said the potential £30 million compensation bill would have been lower if the council had implemented the new, fairer "single status" pay structures earlier (see Workplace Report, July 2005).

"We have been trying to get the national agreement implemented for years but the council has dragged its heels for so long that costs have grown," said Edinburgh UNISON branch secretary John Stevenson.

The collapse of talks at Aberdeen City Council this month over 500 similar back-pay claims, worth over £5 million, has prompted the T&G to ballot members on strike action.

Meanwhile, a £40 million compensation package agreed by the unions and Glasgow City Council has been accepted by more than 90% of the 11,000 employees to whom it was offered.

The package, representing back pay from 1999 to 2004 for staff identified as having been underpaid under the old pay structures, is the first single-status compensation deal to be agreed with any of Scotland's 32 local authorities.

But the GMB, which has withdrawn its support for the package, reports that hundreds of its members have refused the offer because it excludes some workers who have already retired or left the council.