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Single status - equal pay |
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Friday, 06 October 2006 |
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Glasgow City Council is proposing to cut the pay of 16% of its staff in order to achieve equal pay throughout the Council. The SNP accepts that the Council is in a difficult position. Equal Pay is extremely important and is to be supported. While it would be expensive to raise everyone's pay and cut no one's, there is something basically wrong with cutting a person's wages so that they cannot afford their mortgage and have to sell their house.
We would make the following points:
- This problem should have been sorted out years ago. Labour councillors have sat on their hands and hoped it would go away;
- Even if it had been sorted out before, councils would have struggled to solve what is a national problem;
- The Scottish Executive has a responsibility to step in and help rather than standing on the sidelines and criticising.
Although SNP controlled Falkirk Council faces the same difficulties as all other councils, it is useful to note that:
- Falkirk is ahead of the field in proposing a settlement more quickly;
- Falkirk is only having to cut the pay of 8% of staff as against Glasgow's 16%;
- Falkirk are protecting staff's wages for a year longer than Glasgow.
Below is the text of a letter Cllr John Mason sent to the Herald newspaper this week:
Your article and editorial on Equal Pay and Single Status (Wednesday 4) make interesting reading. I would certainly agree with your implied criticism of Labour councillors who sat on their hands for years and hoped the problem would go away. Equal pay legislation has clearly been in place for a lengthy period and this issue should have been dealt with long ago.
In Glasgow the Labour Administration intends to cut the pay of 16% of the workforce. Surely this cannot be justified? They have promised protection for two and a half years until March 2009. But then the cuts will bite and staff will face having to sell their homes if their present income is required to service a mortgage. At Glasgow City Council's last full meeting on 21 September the SNP Group argued that having promised staff a certain salary, it was morally wrong for the Council to break that promise and cut wages. We were met with the argument that Equality had to over-rule all other obligations and it might be illegal to continue paying some staff more than others. Surely this is too simplistic an attitude? The councils face conflicting duties in what is surely a national problem. Therefore, while I would agree that the Scottish Executive should demand action, they should do a lot more and help find a solution. This will probably entail their putting their hands in their pockets.
The final irony for me has been that most of the staff who have approached me about their pay being cut are women.
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