Job losses warning as staff win equal pay claim (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

Job losses warning as staff win equal pay claim

8:02am Thursday 9th July 2009

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WORKERS at Bury Council could face “wholesale” job cuts to meet the cost of reimbursing 1,200 female staff who have won a landmark equal pay claim case.

The warning has come from chief executive Mark Sanders days after the Manchester employment tribunal’s ruling virtually paved the way for the women to receive thousands of pounds each.

Their union, Unison, fought and won the equal pay claim against Bury Council during a four-week hearing. The council’s claim that the men were paid more because of a genuine material factor, rather than because of the workers’ sex, was rejected.

And the Manchester tribunal has ruled that the women — who include cleaners, support workers and cooks — will now earn bonus payments of between 33.33 per cent and 50 per cent in line with male colleagues such as refuse collectors, labourers and gardeners.

But with the spectre of the local authority facing a huge cash bill running into millions of pounds, bosses have warned that jobs will have to be axed as a consequence of settling the claims. Mr Sanders said: “The Government needs to consider if it would allow us borrowing approval. If that is the case, we will need to have room in the budget to pay back that borrowing.

“If we don’t get that borrowing, potentially we’re bankrupt. If we do get it, we’ll have to pay it back and have to create room to pay it back. With no room in our budget, there will have to be wholesale cuts to jobs. It’s an appalling scenario.”

In the meantime, however, council chiefs say they are “disappointed” with the result of the tribunal because they believed they were taking the “correct action” in defending the claims.

Now, together with legal counsel, Bury Council will study the verdict in detail and examine its options, including whether to lodge an appeal. The women employees had claimed they were discriminated against and were underpaid for years. Unison subsequently lodged 1,200 claims against the council.

The dispute involved staff in jobs traditionally done by women which had not attracted productivity bonuses paid to male workers in equivalent areas, such as refuse collection, transport and grounds work. The local authority had argued that the claimants didn’t have a case because the people they were comparing themselves against were rewarded for increased productivity.

Hailing the tribunal verdict, Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis said: “We are delighted the women have won pay justice at last. But it is disgraceful that the council chose to spend council taxpayers’ money to the tune of more than half a million pounds on legal fees which have been wasted at the courts. These low paid women are among many who are treated like second class citizens.”

One of the successful claimants is 47-year-old Bev Hodgkinson who has worked for the council for 23 years in a variety of roles. A home care worker at the time of the claim, she said: “I’m absolutely elated. It’s only right we should not be second to the men. We should never have been forced to go down this route and the case has been dragged out for years. We never felt that our work had been recognised, especially when we knew the men were getting paid more. We have finally received justice and, hopefully, this will have an impact on other cases in the future.”

Commenting on the ruling, Mr Sanders added: “It is disappointing, particularly so in case of those members of staff who we know we cannot provide a bonus scheme. As far as those people in caring occupations, we can’t ask them to work faster in terms of caring for people.”

Commenting on the possible job losses, Unison North West head of local government, Ray Short said: “To threaten to cut jobs because Bury Council has to pay out what they owe is outrageous. They have had years to put funding aside to finance equal pay and this win should have come as no surprise. The council is not playing straight with its employees as they will be able to get Government support in borrowing or selling assets to implement equal pay, so cutting jobs need not be an option. They have twice refused our demands to do this.”

l Claims will be successful from six years prior to March 31, 2007 and cover a number of grades. A manual grade one casual assistant may have come against a comparator earning a 33.33 per cent bonus. If her 2007 salary was £11,500, then the bonus would be £3,832.95. So, the total covering the six-year period is potentially £22,997.70.

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