Single Status and Equal Pay - What's the difference?

Single Status is simply the name given to an important agreement from 1998 - UK councils and trade unions promised to end the distinction between 'blue collar' (Manual) workers and 'white collar' (APT&C) staff.

A key part of the agreement was a commitment to sweep away years of pay discrimination against many female dominated jobs - carers, cooks, cleaners, clerical workers and classroom assistants - by introducing a modern, fit for purpose and non-discriminatory pay structure.

The employers and trade unions agreed that the only way to achieve the kind of modern pay structure both sides desired - was via a new Job Evaluation (JE) scheme that gave female dominated jobs a better deal.

The problem was that the employers and the trade unions both sat on their backsides for the next 10 years - blaming each other for the lack of progress - but ultimately failing to deliver on their promises to a largely female workforce.

Equal pay is underpinned by legislation - it is the law of the land - enshrined in the 1970 Equal Pay Act and subsequent legislation.

Equal Pay trumps any collective agreement between employers and trade unions - because these collective agreements are voluntary in nature - and do not carry the same force as a binding legal agreement.

So, employers and trade unions may say they believe in equal opportunities and equal pay - but pursuing an Equal Pay claim puts the matter in the hands of the courts - where issues are decided by an independent Employment Tribunal.

Employers and trade unions often feel threatened by the involvement of the courts - because they lose control of the situation - they are no longer playing by their own internal rules - and have to account for their actions to an external independent body.

After a decade of empty promises - our advice to council workers, in London and elsewhere, is to use the Employment Tribunal route - because the council employers and trade unions have lost any credibility they once had.

Bromley Meeting

The arrangements for the Action 4 Equality meeting in Bromley have now been confirmed - the details are as follows:

Date: Wednesday 28 May 2008

Time: 2 pm to 4 pm

Venue: Sanderson Hall, Mickelem Road, St Paul's Cray, Orpington.

All welcome - whether you are an existing client, a potential client - or whether you just want to know about your rights to equal pay.

No need for an appointment - just pop in anytime - between 2 pm and 4 pm next Wednesday afternoon.

Knowledge is Power

HR Magazine have been in touch to ask Mark Irvine to write a short piece for a forthcoming edition of their magazine - the idea being that a topical question is posed and a number of 'experts' are invited to respond.

Here is the question and below that what Mark had to say:

"Should employees share their pay information with colleagues?

Yes, definitely.

In a modern workplace, knowing what different groups of employees earn, relative to one another, is a matter of fairness and good practice.

If information and understanding are restricted to an elite group, there is scope for mischief and bad behaviour.

In 1998 UK council and trade unions signed a landmark Single Status (equal pay) agreement, after years of painstaking negotiations.

Both sides acknowledged that many female jobs (e.g. home carers) were badly undervalued and paid less than unskilled male groups (e.g. refuse workers), who earned big bonuses of 50% on top of their basic pay.

But the existence and size of the ongoing pay gap was deliberately kept hidden. By the same employers and trade unions (Unison, GMB and TGWU) who promised - a decade ago - to deliver a non-discriminatory pay structure and better deal for women workers.

So, as in other areas of public life, daylight really is the best disinfectant.

Mark Irvine
Action 4 Equality

More London Meetings

London Borough of Bromley

We are in the process of arranging a meeting in Bromley - interest has been expressed by a number of different groups including Home Carers - no date has been agreed as yet, but if you are interested in coming along drop me a note - or keep an eye on the web site for further news.

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Same story in Tower Hamlets - this time Classroom Assistants are taking the lead and we will let people know when a date and time has been finalised - this will obviously be at a time of day to suit people finishing their work

Organising a Meeting

If you want to organise a local meeting in your own area - we're happy to come along and explain things to new or existing clients - all we need is a place to meet such as a church hall or community centre - just so long as it's not on council premises. If you have somewhere in mind drop me a note and we'll sort something out.

Spreading the Word

Meantime, keep spreading the word about Action 4 Equality London - let people know the telephone number (0845 300 3 800) and our web site address - www.action4equalitylondon.blogspot.com

The more people who take out an equal pay claim - the more pressure the employers will come under - and the sooner they are likely to settle their claims.

If you need any help or advice, drop me a note at - markirvine@compuserve.com

Up All Night?

A bemused client has e-mailed to ask if I am up all through the night - posting information and responding to queries on the Action 4 Equality blog site.

Why? Because the time of some of the postings show up as being written in the wee small hours of the morning - 4.02 am or 5.45 am - which on the face of things suggests either a bad case of insomnia or an attitude towards work that borders on the obsessive.

But the truth is much more boring and prosaic.

The Action 4 Equality site is hosted by Google - and the server that's used is located somewhere in the USA - so the times are recorded somewhere far across the Atlantic Ocean - not in good old Greenwich Mean Time!

We take pride in delivering a high level of service to clients and potential clients - by responding to enquiries and dealing with issues as quickly as possible.

Many people kindly tell us that - compared to the trade unions - Action 4 Equality provides a Rolls Royce level of service, which is good to hear.

But a 'round the clock' 24/7 operation would be pushing things a bit far - even for us.

Haringey Council

Haringey is following a well-trodden path - according to a meeting with clerical workers in London last week.

The council has made one-off 'buy out' offers to some manual workers - but excluded large groups of staff (such as clerical workers) with perfectly valid equal pay claims.

The 'buy outs' follow the usual pattern adopted by employers in other parts of the country:

1. They are for much less than the true value of people's claims
2. They don't deliver equal pay - no one's rate of pay has gone up
3. The big pay differences between male and female jobs remains
4. The groups that have been left out can still bring an equal pay claim
5. Any manual worker who accepted a 'buy out' has a second claim - because the higher pay of the men is being protected for years into the future

So, our advice is not to be taken in by any claims that Haringey Council has solved its equal pay problems - the council still hasn't delivered the modern non-discriminatory job evaluation scheme - that it promised to introduce 10 years ago!

Male and female jobs are still be treated very differently - and there are no prizes for guessing which group is still losing out.

If you need advice about how your own situation, contact Action 4 Equality London on 0845 300 3 800 or drop me a note at: markirvine@compuserve.com

News from Slough

Slough played host to an enthusiastic meeting of Home Carers last week - which was arranged with the help of a few local people who had come across the Action 4 Equality blog site.

As usual, the carers had heard nothing about equal pay - from Slough Council or the local trade unions - empty promises about re-grading their jobs had come to nothing - and the pay gap between traditional male and female jobs had never been challenged.

Until Action 4 Equality arrived on the scene that is - now there is a flurry of activity as the employer and the unions desperately try to explain why they've sat on their backsides - and failed to implement their own equal pay (Single Status) agreement these past 10 years.

There is talk of the council now making a 'buy out' offer to some of the manual worker posts - but of course any such offers will be derisory - and will be for much less than the true value of people's claims.

The unions are suggesting the council may offer people 20% of what their claims are really worth - but why should low paid workers allow themselves to be cheated out of thousands of pounds?

The council won't explain how any 'buy out' offers are calculated - because to do that they would have to explain the size of the pay gap between male and female jobs - then people would be able to see just how badly they've been treated all these years.

The unions know the size of the pay gap - because they negotiated the bonus payments from the men - but kept the details hidden from their women members - all the while singing their own praises as champions of equal pay and equal opportunities.

Our advice to council workers in Slough is to get proper advice - find out what your claim is really worth - don't be taken in by a derisory 'buy out' offer - which doesn't even deliver equal pay.

Equal Pay - What's the Hurry?

We've had a number of enquiries recently along the lines of: "What's the hurry about making an equal pay claim - why don't I just wait and see what happens with Single Status?"

Well the straight answer to that question is that people have been waiting for the past 10 years - and you are losing money hand over fist by just sitting tight and doing nothing.

You can claim up to 6 years in back pay with an equal pay claim - but the clock only starts once your claim has been registered with the employment tribunals - so every day you delay is a day that you can't claim back again.

Also, once your claim is registered - you start adding on time going forward - i.e. in addition to the 6 years back pay - so if it takes another 18 months to sort out, at least you have added that 18 months on to your claim.

Bottom line is that if you don't submit an equal pay claim - you're not at the races.

Job Evaluation and Single Status

The introduction of a new Job Evaluation (JE) scheme was a vital part of the Single Status agreement signed by council employers and the trade unions in 1998.

Job evaluation is simply a way of assessing the worth or value of jobs - relative to one another - the more skill and responsibility a job has, the more it is worth - and the more it should be paid.

The Single Status agreement recognised that many female dominated jobs had been undervalued and underpaid for years - and job evaluation meant a fresh start - an opportunity to put things right and end years of pay discrimination.

But the employers and trade unions failed to deliver on their promises - the commitment to a new job evaluation scheme lay dormant - until Action 4 Equality and Stefan Cross came along that is - and explained how badly women workers were being let down.

Now the employers are desperately trying to recover the lost ground - because without a new (non-discriminatory) job evaluation scheme that treats women and men both the same - the employers have no defence against equal pay claims from their employees.

But the difference between 1998 and 2008 - is that the employers are now trying to bring in job evaluation on the cheap - and the trade unions are letting them away with murder in many areas.

Job evaluation is intended to operate in an open and transparent manner - the results should make sense and been seen to be fair - yet that hasn't stopped the employers from trying to pull the wool over people eyes.

The tricks that employers get up to are to numerous to cover in detail here - but there's lots of examples on our Scotland blog site which you can read online at - www.action4equalityscotland.blogspot.com

If you want advice on what's happening in any of the London councils, drop me a note at - markirvine@compuserve.com

We intend to build up a similar bank of information about how job evaluation is being introduced in London councils - and to provide people with the knowledge they need to fight back against unscrupulous behaviour by the employers - and the trade unions.

Can I have more than one claim?

Yes, of course you can.

You have a claim in every separate job you do - so long as each job qualifies in its own right as having an equal pay claim - but that's very likely to be the case for most part-time council jobs.

The record - so far at least - is a woman from Glasgow with five different part-time jobs - but it's very common for people to have two or even three - because all of these jobs are low paid, so people often work extra hours to make ends meet.

If the female dominated jobs were on the same rate of pay as the men - they would be able to work far fewer hours - or by working the extra hours they would be much better off than they are now!

So, if you're juggling two or three part-time jobs just to keep things going - don't hesitate to bang in a claim for each one - because they all count.

London meetings

Action 4 Equality is planning to hold regular meetings in London - the purpose of which will be to:

1. spread the word about equal pay
2. explain how the tribunal process works
3. answer people's questions and any concerns
4. gather feedback about what's happening in different areas

Our experience is that local people know best when it comes to arranging such meetings - i.e. the most convenient times of day and likely venues in which to meet.

If you would like to help organise a small gathering in your area - contact Mark Irvine to discuss the arrangements at - markirvine@compuserve.com