Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 03 March 2011
03 Mar 2011 · S3 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
There is a Better Way Campaign
I congratulate Elaine Smith on securing this worthwhile debate. As per my register of interests, I declare my membership of the union Unite. I have been a trade union member for more than 30 years.
I realise that the emphasis in members’ business debates is usually consensual. However, I have some serious issues that I feel should be aired.
The campaign by the STUC and the unions is worthy. The protection of front-line jobs and services is vital not only for the people who work in them but for the people who rely on the vital support that they provide. Let us look at what has happened in the past decade to the lowest-paid local government workers and, in particular, the women workers who were promised equal pay by both the Labour Government in Westminster and the Labour Executive in Scotland. A decade later, we still find that many women have been denied their right to equal pay because local authorities have failed to settle within a reasonable period.
The situation has been further compounded by the single status debacle, which once again failed spectacularly to defend and enhance the position of the lowest-paid front-line staff who provide so many vital services. At the same time as equal pay and single status have failed for front-line council staff, we have witnessed the earnings of senior officials within local authorities increase through reorganisation and rationalisation. In one year alone, senior council staff were awarded a 13 per cent pay increase, on top of a 2.5 per cent increase already awarded that year. That, let us remember, happened at a time when poorly paid women were being denied equal pay settlements.
I fully support the campaign to retain front-line services, but I object to the defence of enhanced salaries and performance-related pay for senior members of staff at the same time as terms and conditions and overall incomes are being cut for front-line staff.
I realise that the emphasis in members’ business debates is usually consensual. However, I have some serious issues that I feel should be aired.
The campaign by the STUC and the unions is worthy. The protection of front-line jobs and services is vital not only for the people who work in them but for the people who rely on the vital support that they provide. Let us look at what has happened in the past decade to the lowest-paid local government workers and, in particular, the women workers who were promised equal pay by both the Labour Government in Westminster and the Labour Executive in Scotland. A decade later, we still find that many women have been denied their right to equal pay because local authorities have failed to settle within a reasonable period.
The situation has been further compounded by the single status debacle, which once again failed spectacularly to defend and enhance the position of the lowest-paid front-line staff who provide so many vital services. At the same time as equal pay and single status have failed for front-line council staff, we have witnessed the earnings of senior officials within local authorities increase through reorganisation and rationalisation. In one year alone, senior council staff were awarded a 13 per cent pay increase, on top of a 2.5 per cent increase already awarded that year. That, let us remember, happened at a time when poorly paid women were being denied equal pay settlements.
I fully support the campaign to retain front-line services, but I object to the defence of enhanced salaries and performance-related pay for senior members of staff at the same time as terms and conditions and overall incomes are being cut for front-line staff.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Trish Godman)
Lab
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S3M-7752, in the name of Elaine Smith, on the there is a better way campaign. Motion debate...
Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the members who signed the motion, those who are here today and those who support the Scottish Trades Union Congress’s campaign. On 23 October, 20,00...
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green)
Green
I apologise that I will not be able to stay for the whole of this important debate.Does the member agree that it is a little disgraceful that members of the ...
Elaine Smith
Lab
I absolutely agree with that. Perhaps it would be quite uncomfortable for them to hear this message.Spending on public services is an investment, not a debt ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
I remind members of the public in the public gallery that it is not appropriate to applaud.12:42
John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I congratulate Elaine Smith on securing this worthwhile debate. As per my register of interests, I declare my membership of the union Unite. I have been a tr...
Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab)
Lab
Does the member not agree that freezing the council tax has had a major effect on women and other low-paid workers whose jobs are under threat? Is that reall...
John Wilson
SNP
I will deal with that later in my speech.In February 2011, Unison could not provide a full-time official to attend a meeting of members in St Andrew’s high s...
Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank Elaine Smith for securing this debate and restate the welcome that she gave to the people in the gallery. I think that some of them might have missed...
Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab)
Lab
I was puzzled by John Wilson’s curious speech because I was unsure what he was trying to portray to us about the better way campaign. I have respect for him ...
The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism (Jim Mather)
SNP
There is a big difference between light touch and no touch. The Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority let this country down enor...
Hugh Henry
Lab
Jim Mather may wish to reflect on the fact that the First Minister wanted an even lighter touch taken to what was, at the time, no regulation. That is bizarr...
Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I am tempted to begin by listing a number of individual backers of the Labour Party and wondering what their position might be on the there is a better way c...
Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab)
Lab
I support the motion in Elaine Smith’s name and the STUC’s there is a better way campaign. Those who support the notion that there is a better way should uni...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Lab
You should finish now, Ms McNeill.
Pauline McNeill
Lab
It is important that there is a bar for those who are working for poor pay in the private sector, too. By supporting a living wage, we can make it the bar fo...
Cathy Peattie (Falkirk East) (Lab)
Lab
I thank Elaine Smith for bringing the debate to the chamber. As Pauline McNeill said, we should have discussed these issues before. I, too, thank the STUC fo...
The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism (Jim Mather)
SNP
I thank Elaine Smith for securing the debate. Viewed in the wider context of the increasingly extreme political and economic challenges that are being faced ...
Elaine Smith
Lab
As John Wilson did not respond to Cathy Peattie’s point about the council tax, I will ask the minister. Does he not recognise that the council tax freeze res...
Jim Mather
SNP
The big prize is cohesion. Local government is compensated for the council tax freeze. This is an issue on which we can avoid polarising the argument, albeit...
Hugh Henry
Lab
Will the minister take an intervention?
Jim Mather
SNP
No. Time is against me.There are two-parent families that are struggling, which means that both parents must work where only one had to before.I say to Hugh ...