Glasgow Equal Pay

GMB Women Call For Urgent Glasgow Equal Pay Settlement

GMB Scotland will call on the STUC Women’s Conference to support the urgent settlement of long-standing Equal pay claims in Glasgow City Council (GCC) today (Monday 30 October) – and to return the arm’s length organisation Cordia back to full council control.

Nearly fifty years on from the Equal Pay Act, GMB, which represents the claims of over 2000 women in GCC, will highlight the unresolved pay inequality in Scotland’s biggest council and the chronic undervalue of women workers in key services like care, catering and cleaning.

Last month, GMB Scotland launched the ‘Glasgow Pay Justice’ campaign to deliver a fair and just settlement for all equal pay claims and to bring the terms and conditions of GCC workers up and not down.

But the union also believes the council administration’s intent to finally resolve the historic discrimination presents an unprecedented opportunity to bring Cordia services back under the full control of the council.

Motion 13 – Pay Parity in Glasgow – is scheduled to be delivered during Monday’s afternoon session.

GMB Scotland Glasgow Branch Secretary, Rhea Wolfson said: "We must move urgently to start single table negotiations for the resolution of Equal Pay claims but this has to be a fair and just settlement.

These women have waited years for pay justice but that can’t be delivered if it means a settlement cheque in one hand and a P45 in the other or by staff being made poorer, privatised or redundant by the process.

Both the Scottish Government and the council leadership have committed to resolving Glasgow’s equal pay scandal but by bringing services like Cordia back under council control we can help eradicate the scourge of pay inequality.

In supporting this motion, STUC Women’s Conference can send out a loud and clear message to all levels of governance in Scotland that the days of pay discrimination in our biggest city’s services are over."

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Contact: GMB Scotland Branch Secretary Rhea Wolfson on 07967 022663 or Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.