'Pay up now' - UNISON demands North Lanarkshire council stops stalling on equal pay claims

Date: Friday 23 May 2014

UNISON Branch to take to streets to pressure council into fairness

UNISON North Lanarkshire is stepping up the pressure on North Lanarkshire Council in the union’s long running campaign to end the unfair treatment of low paid women. UNISON is demanding the Council settle their many outstanding equal pay claims. As well as continuing to use  internal council procedures UNISON is planning to campaign publicly with  leaflets and ad trailers.

The Council has conceded that many of the 1200 equal pay claims that UNISON has brought will be settled.  The Council has had little choice in this after admitting that it had destroyed records, altered results of assessments, and its job evaluations were not reliable

John Mooney, UNISON Branch Secretary said:

“NLC cannot continue to dodge the issue of equal pay. We have been clear all along that the Employment Tribunal claims we have lodged will prove to be successful. We call on NLC to do the right thing and settle all cases now. For an employer to purposely change job scores which lowered pay rates and to admit that they have destroyed the paperwork is astonishing and UNISON demand to know who sanctioned such disgusting behaviour.”

One of the predominant groups affected are Home Support Workers and Mooney said:

 “Home Support Workers receive poor pay for doing an extremely demanding and responsible job. They are charged with looking after our elderly and vulnerable people, but who has looked out for them? Certainly not NLC who deliberately paid lower wages than these workers deserved. 

Home Support Workers have died waiting for the Council to give them what they should rightfully have earned. UNISON has again asked the Council to hear the grievances of this group of workers and settle the matter once and for all.” 

“Despite owning up to deliberately keeping low paid workers on low pay with no justification. North Lanarkshire Council remain at Employment Tribunal spending thousands of pounds of Council Tax tax payers money defending their actions. The Council needs to face up to its responsibility to its workforce and the people of North Lanarkshire and end this charade now”