North Lanarkshire Update



Scotland's fourth largest council (a Labour-run council) discriminates against thousands of low paid, predominantly women's, jobs for years and the scandal barely registers with the press and media.

A new baby arrives in the Royal Family and the result is barely contained hysteria and wall-to-wall coverage news coverage which is difficult to escape.

Now while I'm sure every right-minded person will wish the young couple and their second child well, I think we could do with a re-assessment of what counts as a big news story in this day and age.   

North Lanarkshire Update (02/05/15)


A number of readers from North Lanarkshire have been in touch to say they really appreciate yesterday's post about how to protect the interests of the workforce when another round of job evaluation gets underway.

Well I'm pleased about that because the reality is that, broadly speaking, the people running the Council now are the same ones who were in charge when things went so badly wrong back in 2006/07.

So some important new safeguards need to be put in place if you ask me, otherwise everyone might end up in exactly the same position again. 

North Lanarkshire Update (01/05/15)


Here's my Action 4 Equality Scotland 'manifesto' on the way in which a further round of job evaluation should be carried out in North Lanarkshire Council to safeguard the interests of the workforce.   

1 A firm from commitment from all parties to complete openness and transparency during the re-evaualtion process

Publication of all female dominated jobs to be re-evaluated and reasons for selection

3 Publication of all male dominated jobs to be re-evaluated and reasons for selection

Publication of all revised job descriptions and an opportunity for input/comment

5 Publication of all JES scores and individual JES factor scores 

6 Publication of a 'rank order test' before any new proposals are finalised

Agreement to a further Equality Impact Assessment (prior to implementation) by an independent person not selected by the Council which revisit the issue of grade boundaries

Now I'm sure there will be lots of people within the workforce who would support this 'seven point plan' and I am happy to work with the trade unions as well to ensure that there is no repeat of what happened in the past.

So, I'm prepared to offer my services to carry out a further Equality Impact Assessment, not just because the last one didn't work out too well, but in order to achieve an outcome that is seen to be fair by everyone involved, especially the workforce. 

In fact, I'll go further and say I'd be prepared to do conduct another Equality Impact Assessment free-of-charge which would also save the Council some money into the bargain.

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