This article is copied directly from http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/2007/11/the_shame_of_single_status_rob.phpBob Piper is a Labour Councillor for Sandwell Council.

Ten years ago the local government employers and the trade unions struck a deal called the Single Status agreement. The aims of the agreement were, allegedly, to address the issue of pay discrimination in local government. From the employers' side this was an attempt to prevent employment tribunals that would have cost the local government employers billions of pounds in settlements to mostly low paid women workers who had traditionally been discriminated against in comparison to male workers in broadly similar positions. They paid male manual workers bonuses, they didn't pay female manual workers bonuses.

Shockingly, the agreement placed the burden of addressing this issue less on employers, and more on taking money off other workers (in many cases low paid themselves) to fund the agreement.

It was a disgraceful agreement for the trade unions to sign, and one which contained a 'zero cost' clause which left the employers rubbing their hands in glee. In fairness a lot of trade union branches, including my own at the time in Walsall, saw through this fiasco at the time and voted against the single status settlement, but sadly, the membership as a whole were duped by their union bureaucracies and the employers into thinking this was a good deal which would end pay discrimination, and they voted in favour of the agreement.

Despite having escaped by the skin of their teeth, Councils sat on their hands and did nothing to implement this agreement for the best part of ten years. They hoped it would just go away and over time pay structures would evolve and the problem would no longer exist... and they could forget about having to compensate those they had traditionally discriminated against. The unions, who knew the agreement in reality would upset their members who lost pay did the same... until ambulance chasing no-win no-fee solicitors decided to start banging cases in to tribunals. That is why councils up and down the country have started to panic.

That is why workers in local government throughout the country, many of whom are themselves low paid and female, are being asked to take pay cuts which can amount to thousands of pounds a year to pay for this shoddy compromise agreement.
This article is copied directly from http://www.bobpiper.co.uk/2007/11/the_shame_of_single_status_rob.phpBob Piper is a Labour Councillor for Sandwell Council.

0 comments:

Blogger Templates by Blog Forum