Meeting of the Parliament 03 March 2020
I welcome this debate in celebration of international women’s day. The motion gives all of us an opportunity to highlight the contribution that women make across society, nationally and internationally, as well as the injustices that women continue to face, which have been spoken of.
It is fitting that we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act 1970. I will focus my speech on the Glasgow City Council women workers who, after many years, have finally received justice in their case for equal pay and conditions.
I will start with a bit of background to the case. In 2007, an unequal—as we now know it to have been—pay and grading scheme was introduced by Glasgow City Council as part of the single status agreement that was implemented across Scottish local authorities. Glasgow decided to go with a uniquely amended version of a scheme that was used by London local authorities. As a result, many of the predominantly female occupational groups were transferred to an arm’s-length organisation called Cordia.
Those women were subjected to discriminatory measures that reduced their earnings in value compared to those of mainstream Glasgow City Council employees: overtime rates were reduced, pay rises were not applied to non-core earnings, and oppressive shift systems and increased workloads were imposed. The largely female workforce ensured that our elderly and vulnerable people were supported, that catering services ran smoothly and that cleaning services were delivered across schools, nurseries, libraries, care homes, museums and homecare in the community.
However—this is the good news—by working together and showing huge strength and determination over an unbelievable 12 years, the women won their case and ensured parity for the women workers of the future. Those women fought against the then Labour-run council, which, by all accounts, spent more than £2.5 million in defending that discriminatory policy. I have to agree with the commentators at the time that it was an incredible waste of public money and a betrayal of those women employees. Who knows how many more thousands would have been spent? I congratulate those woman and the SNP in Glasgow City Council and the Government for tackling that issue and achieving justice.
With the marking of the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act 1970, we should be applauding that case. However, despite that legislation and landmark victories for women over the years, pay discrimination remains a persistent cause of the gender pay gap. We are still quite a way from realising the right to equal pay for equal work. Pay discrimination affects individual women and is a feature of female-dominated jobs and sectors—I have just illustrated that in the Glasgow case. I would argue that the problem is that our economy undervalues the work that women do and that it has done so for generations. I could go further and really put the cat among the pigeons by saying that I believe that a lack of understanding—I am being polite—among a predominantly male hierarchy has led to systematic discrimination.
The Close the Gap briefing that we received for the debate, for which I thank Close the Gap very much, made interesting and disappointing reading. Research by Close the Gap on employer action on the pay gap found that, although 94 per cent of employers that were surveyed had an equal pay policy, fewer than a third had undertaken an equal pay review and only 3 per cent had taken any action to address pay gaps. Close the Gap has said:
“This undue complacency among employers is also evidenced in the Government Equalities Office research on reporting of gender pay gap data where the vast majority of employers surveyed”—
62 per cent—
“had no current, past or planned future involvement in pay reviews because they considered that they already provided equal pay.”