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.