LEEDS VICTORY, BUT TORY THREAT TO EQUALITIES AGENDA EXPOSED
If anyone doubts that a Tory government would be worse than Labour they should look at the recent behaviour of Leeds, Brighton and Swindon councils regarding equal pay.
GMB and UNISON have just won a stunning victory over Leeds council after a 12 week strike by refuse workers. The council had responded to the statutory requirement for equal pay by seeking to reduce the wages of male workers, in some cases by up to £6000. Brighton and Hove council are now doing the same thing, and are also facing industrial action.
We can see how this work in practice by looking at Swindon Borough Council’s approach in detail. Swindon Borough Council under the Tories has one of the highest paid management teams in the country. The chief executive earns more than the Prime Minister, and several SBC directors earn more than government ministers. Nevertheless, Swindon also has one of the lowest paid workforces,, with large numbers of mainly women staff on barely more than minimum wage. Nor is it a high achieving local authority in terms of service provision. Frankly, this model doesn’t work, which makes its inherent injustice even less justifiable.
Equal pay consultations to resolve the gender discrimination in the pay structure have been dragging on for some 12 or 13 years, and a formula was agreed; but last year the Tory councillors and the senior management realised that if single status was implemented according to that formula, and if management pay was brought into line with market comparators then several senior staff would be facing substantial pay cuts.
So instead they are ring fencing senior pay, and are seeking to impose a solution that will see around 70% of the workforce have a pay freeze, around 20% have a pay cut and very few have a slight increase. According to their own figures the pay differential between men and women will only marginally improve; so whereas women staff currently get about 81% of male wages, it will on average only increase to 82%.
The unions dispute that even this is the case, as this 1% improvement would only be achieved as women workers move up the incremental scale, while male comparators do not. On the council’s own figures it will be about 5 more years before this massive 1% improvement in equal pay is achieved. In reality it will never be achieved, because another wheeze of these Tory councillors is to say that staff can no longer count on an automatic incremental pay increase, as these will now be performance related.
In another bold move, Swindon wishes to exploit the measure that allows councils to pay higher than agreed pay scales where they are having trouble filing a position, in the bizarre world of Swindon’s Tories this means they should also be allowed to pay LESS than agreed pay scales if that matches market conditions. So Swindon Borough Council will be directly competing with the worst employers to push wages down.
Swindon Borough Council are embarking on a course of action that seems outside both the spirit and the letter of equalities legislation. Throughout the consultation process they have treated trade union negotiators with contempt, and they are probably seeking to impose the deal by January. Swindon BC already have some 1500 equal pay claims in process against them, it is likely they will be facing thousands of grievances in January over this new issue, quite aside from any industrial response.
At the current moment, it is not clear which sections of workers will lose out, and they will probably mainly be UNISON members. Over the last year or so, GMB and UNISON have forged a good and constructive spirit of cooperation on Swindon Borough Council. The council is relying on the fact that most staff will not be actually worse off than they are now. They may well have miscalculated; however the union response will need to be worked out when we have seen more detail.
What is clear from the examples of Leeds, Brighton and Swindon is that the Tories are ideologically opposed to the spirit of equal pay and equality; and contemptuous of the interests of the workforce. A Tory government would have the same appalling attitude, but on a national scale.
And there been support for these worker by leeds new labour party ,i think you will found that to be NO, as there been support from SP,swp,wp,left Greens etc,etc i think you will found that to be a big YES
Comment by steelcityred — 24 November, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
Tory, Labour, Whatever there all the same serving Capitalism!
Revolution not Reform!
One single complete turn!
That’s what’s needed!
Comment by Jim — 24 November, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
erm -Labour in leeds very publicly supported the strike and the strikers. The green party did f’all.
If anyone is in any doubt what voting green means they can see from the coalition partnership that leeds green party put into power in the first place. Their stated priority was to smash the Labour stranglehold on the council- they had no qualms about entering into coalition with the tories and they only back out when plans for a waste incinerator were approved.
Comment by Paul Ross — 24 November, 2009 @ 12:35 pm
#3 ‘Tis my my very point all these parties when we vote for them; end-up mugging the workers down that blind ally of reformism!
Comment by Jim — 24 November, 2009 @ 1:26 pm
Cameron is calling not for a big state but a `Big Society’. In other words he hopes to utilise the mass weight of the petty bourgeoisie and middle classes in support of massive anti-working class government spending cuts on a civil war level. Of course, a lot of those who vote for him will end up as his victims given the size of the cutting he is proposing. Naturally we must keep these people out.
But let us have no illusions in New Labour. They are already plotting the reversal of their 12 years of wasted spending on social mobility and will squash wages, cut funding and destroy jobs whereever they can and privatise the NHS along with everything else. They will, given the contituencies that vote for them, find it much harder to achieve `stability’ than the Tories and will, therefore, supplement their plans with money printing, rising interest rates and hyper-inflation to ensure the burden of this crisis rests on the shoulders of workers and not bankers. All this must be pointed out even whilst we vote in solidarity with those who do have illusions or simply want to stop the Tories. In the meantime, to build an alternative we must have and we must develop an alternative programme. Otherwise … what?
Comment by David Ellis — 24 November, 2009 @ 1:35 pm
The council had responded to the statutory requirement for equal pay by seeking to reduce the wages of male workers
The “the statutory requirement for equal pay” has been in place for 25-odd years and ALL employers have obeyed it.
What the council’s responding to are the series of remarkable employment tribunal rulings (aka the Male-Female Social Engineering Act), since confirmed by the courts, that it’s not just sufficient to pay all your carpenters the same, be they male or female, and likewise for your lollipop people. If one set of people get higher wages - lets say carpenters - and are mostly male, while another in ‘equivalent jobs’, who are mostly female, get less - then you’ve got sex discrimination which must be addressed.
So who decides what are ‘equivalent jobs’ ? Once it was done by a thing called ‘the market’ - if you couldn’t get enough carpenters you increased wages until you filled the posts. Admittedly in council Direct Labour organisations (DLOs) this became institutionally corrupt, some people got more money than ever they’d get from a private employer, and you had to ‘know someone’ to get a job.
Apparently a tribunal or council committee will now decide whether a cook is the same as a plumber.
This leads to lots of well-paid (”male”) jobs being deemed to be “equivalent” to lots of lower-paid “female” jobs. It costs the councils a fortune to implement and the council tax increases would be enormous - so they cut the male wages !
Now the victory in Leeds is won, the council tax increases WILL be enormous - or HMG, who haven’t any money because they gave it all to the bankers, will have to stump up. A sorry tale.
Note that as far as I know, no one has yet attempted to apply these precedents to the private sector. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if they do.
Comment by Laban — 24 November, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
I forgot to say. Equivalent Job legislation might be a good or bad thing. The point is that no one passed this law, it was never discussed in the Commons, no one voted on it at ballot box or in Parliament. It’s legislation by appointed tribunal and appointed activist judges. Where’s the mandate?
Comment by Laban — 24 November, 2009 @ 1:45 pm
A great result for the Leeds strikers. Well done to all involved, which as anyone who knows anything about the dispute will tell you includes Labour in Leeds
Comment by All grades united in one common object — 24 November, 2009 @ 1:57 pm
Don’t know where else to put this, so…
http://thoughcowardsflinch.com/2009/11/24/chavez-fifth-international-is-not-a-step-forward/
Fifth International, discuss, etc.
Comment by Angel of the North — 24 November, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
Laban asks “where’s the mandate?”. The answer is the 1997 Single Status Agreement, which also introduced a negotiated NJC Job Evaluation Scheme. Unfortunately, the weakness of this agreement is that LAs are not obliged to use this scheme. Of course, equal pay costs money to implement, but councils had years to put money aside for this, and there is absolutely no excuse for the disparity between men’s and women’s pay. Of course, the coarse levelling down of men’s pay is also unacceptable, and it must be noted that the victory of the Leeds refuse workers is also a victory for the (predominately female) carers they have been graded with.
Is “Jim” for real, by the way? He sounds like me at 15. Of course, it was trendy back in those days. “To the barricades, comrades!”
Comment by CHarles Dexter Ward — 24 November, 2009 @ 4:04 pm
#10 Yes ‘Dexter’ I’m for real despite and in spite of your inopportune fun poking. Why thinker with a rotten to its very core capitalist system; many have tried and failed and most miserably too. Deride all you like but I say Revolution not Reform!
Comment by Jim — 24 November, 2009 @ 5:56 pm
“What is clear from the examples of Leeds, Brighton and Swindon is that the Tories are ideologically opposed to the spirit of equal pay and equality; and contemptuous of the interests of the workforce. A Tory government would have the same appalling attitude, but on a national scale”
Of course the Conservatives are awful, but so are the Neo Liberal Tories running Labour.
In Derby until the last Council
Elections Labour ruled in Coalition with the Conservatives.Labour in coalition with the Conservatives.
There is nothing that the Conservatives will do that Labour has not already done or in the case of the Post Office Privatisation, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Power, Bailing out wealthy Bank shareholders they arent waiting to do again and more.
Only the militancy of the organised working class in Leeds and in the Post office has fended off the Tories.
What the hell has Labour been doing for 12 years allowing Conservative Councils to treat workers like this.
Remember when the Conservatives where in power they stopped councils spending, raising council taxes, forced them to sell Council Houses, stopped them using the council house recipts, abolished the GLC, abolished the rates and imposed the poll tax.
So ask yourselves why has Labour not stopped the attacks on its core support, UNISON AND GMB WORKERS ON LOW AND MEDIAN INCOMES!Left to fight by themselves
How is it Blue Labour can find literally billions to bail out their pals in the City, overnight, but nothing for the Posties and then they threaten us with public spending cuts whilst the City spends its bonuses.
Because Labour is now a Party of the wealthy few and they have the same class war policies as the Conservatives
We have to wake up and stop apologising for the corrupt, bloodstained, Neo Liberal, gutless, Labour Party.
If you want a privatised public sector…. vote Labour!
Comment by Well Red Bandits — 24 November, 2009 @ 8:28 pm
If Leeds’ Labour council is so good why did the workers need to go on strike?
Tory or Labour, striking, not voting is the way to win!
Comment by Heavy-handed bureaucrat — 24 November, 2009 @ 9:12 pm
Striking against Labour is stupid. Look what happened last time. Winter of discontent, 18 years of Tory rule, the miners beaten, destruction of industry & privatization. You lot ready for round 2?
Comment by Labour voter — 24 November, 2009 @ 9:17 pm
Someone obviously does not know Leeds is run by Libs/tories
please keep up
As for Swindon, you have to say whu does it come to industrial action when men get their pay cut ???
What about the women who have being getting 20% less for the last 10 years (probably longer)
I know this is not easy but its the truth
why didnt we take action to get that 20% locally or nationally
How many resolutions, leaftlets were produced comrades
That self critisim over, trade unions can play a viotal role in defending workers against the undoubted Tory onslaught against nurses,teachers prison officers, policemen,
librarians etc
They must pay for every cut
Still better lets make sure they dont get a majority
Comment by Ian — 24 November, 2009 @ 11:13 pm
It is quite clear that Jim is an agent provocateur - if not, then s/he should consider becoming one because their trolling skills are coming along nicely - and Laban seems to be a poorly disguised press officer for Leeds council. If not, then s/he should consider applying for the next post that comes up, it would certainly be better use of their time than attempting to convince us that a resounding victory for workers in Leeds is terrible because of the hike in council tax!
My take on the dispute and its resolution here:
http://thefriendlylefty.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/victory-for-leeds-refuse-collectors/
Comment by The Friendly Lefty — 25 November, 2009 @ 1:10 am
#16 Thanks for the laugh, did anyone tell you your really funny!
Comment by Jim — 25 November, 2009 @ 7:19 am
“The chief executive earns more than the Prime Minister, and several SBC directors earn more than government ministers. Nevertheless, Swindon also has one of the lowest paid workforces,, with large numbers of mainly women staff on barely more than minimum wage. Nor is it a high achieving local authority in terms of service provision. Frankly, this model doesn’t work, which makes its inherent injustice even less justifiable.”
Your missing the point. This is the way the English like their society organised. When the ultimate political expression is to metaphorically pull your forlocks, what better justication to do so, than towards people who earn more than the PM! This article is well off the mark - stop deluding yourself, thank you.
Comment by W.O. Goodman — 25 November, 2009 @ 7:34 am
I thought this might be of interest -
LEEDS REFUSE WORKERS’ THREE MONTHS STRIKE AND CONDUCT OF LEEDS CITY COUNCIL
Colin Burgon MP
Early Day Motion EDM 204
UK Parliament
24 Nov 2009
Comment by joe90 kane — 25 November, 2009 @ 7:49 am
#14
Striking against Labour is stupid. Look what happened last time. Winter of discontent, 18 years of Tory rule, the miners beaten, destruction of industry & privatization. You lot ready for round 2?
Comment by Labour voter — 24 November, 2009 @ 9:17 pm
The labour party then still had lots of working ppl support ,it was see for good or for bad the party of the working class, it listen to what the unions was saiding and most time took action on it ,the party had a lot of TU members and on the all was a socailist party, now some 30 years new labour ,who as lost the respect of many working ppl ,a party with no back-bone ,full of the like of Mandelsons and the millbands and on the all fall in love with free market capitalism .
Yes there are some good people still in new Labour but what are there doing there ?and there are unions still funding it what for?
Comment by steelcityred — 25 November, 2009 @ 9:53 am
@19
9 labour MP back it
Old labour is coming back (not)
Comment by steelcityred — 25 November, 2009 @ 10:02 am
We talked about Single Status a little while ago here. Its umportant to know the background to this mandatory process on Councils as part of the backgound to this Strike.
I’m delighted with the news but there may be more disputes like this if as the BBC are saying around 25% of Councils have yet to implement Single Status. In doing so btw they must have negotiated extensions with Government.
Comment by Christy — 25 November, 2009 @ 5:51 pm