Thousands of current and former Glasgow City Council workers will begin to receive offers to settle their outstanding equal pay claims from today.
In an historic moment of 'pride, poignancy and pragmatism,' the local authority will deliver pay justice for female staff who have waged a 12-year campaign for pay justice.
More than 16,000 workers, employed in previously female-dominated roles such as carers, school cleaners, caterers and education workers – were underpaid by up to £3 an hour compared with men in the same pay grade.
They are expected to benefit from a £548 million settlement to be financed over the next 30 years – with women to receive an average of £35,000 each.
A spokesperson for the joint claimant group said: "This should be a moment of pride for Glasgow’s equal pay women because it’s recognition that they were right to battle as they did and they were right to take on their employer for years of discrimination.
"It’s also a poignant moment because there are women who started this journey and are no longer with us; they were our friends and colleagues and those individuals and their families are very much in thoughts of everyone today.
"We also need to be pragmatic about these settlements. We have a duty of care to our claimants, many of whom will receive life-changing sums of money including a small number who will receive over £100,000, and it’s our obligation to ensure they protected from the possibility of exploitation.
"Ultimately, this is the culmination of a decade long battle for equal pay but it is not the end point in the journey for justice – that only happens when the council implements a new job evaluation system that ensures every employee is paid and treated equally."
The news comes after a earlier this month – honouring the 163 equal pay campaigners who passed away during the long fight against Glasgow City Council.
Campaign leader Frances Stojilkovic told Glasgow Live: "We just felt it was right the families of those who have died have somewhere to come and sit and remember.
"It's not right that they are not here, it's emotional, but now we can keep their memory alive and let them know they will never be forgotten."
The equal pay claims arose due to the implementation of the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR) scheme in 2006.
The dispute came to a head in October 2018, when over 8,000 workers across the city took strike action in order to force the council to engage in meaningful negotiations, settle the claims, and deliver pay justice for the workforce.
The offers cover the period from the 1 January 2007 up to the 31 March 2018, although Glasgow City Council workers remain subject to the pay scheme to this day.
A further settlement offer will be made to the claimants, expected in 2021, following the implementation of a new job evaluation scheme that is currently in the early stages of being implemented.
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