 |
Elaine North, centre, and Mike Kirby, left of Elaine,
filmed by TV crews as they heard the news from the court today |
#EqualPay
Nearly two
thousand women members of UNISON are celebrating a historic equal pay victory
today.
They have
finally demolished the long-running defence by Scottish councils of paying men
discriminatory bonuses that are denied to women.
The UNISON
Scotland members can expect to share in an estimated nearly £12 million in
compensation after the UK Supreme Court today handed down judgment in their
favour in the seven-year case of North & Others v Dumfries and Galloway
Council.
Having
conceded that council bonuses were discriminatory, more than 20 Scottish
councils joined Dumfries in arguing that women should only get equal pay
compensation if they worked at the same location as their male comparators.
UNISON had
appealed after the Court of Session said the 251 classroom assistants, support
for learning assistants and nursery nurses in Dumfries were not able to compare
themselves with groundsmen, refuse collectors and drivers and leisure
attendants who received bonuses, but were based at depots, not in the women’s
schools.
Today’s
judgment overturns that decision, saying that UK equal pay law which allows a
woman to compare herself with a man “in the same employment” does apply, even
though the women worked at different ‘establishments’.
