Responding to yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling that shop floor workers in ASDA can be compared to colleagues in distribution centres for the purposes of equal pay, GMB Scotland Organiser Robert Deavy said: “The ruling opens the door to equal pay justice for thousands of ASDA workers in Scotland and it’s a massive moment.
“ASDA has fought tooth and nail for years to deny shop floor workers, predominantly women, their proper value and this is now their fourth defeat in the courts.
“The need to accept they are wrong, that over 40,000 claimants across the UK are right, and now sit down with GMB to start a process of settling the liability for their discrimination.
“It should also be a moment to reset ASDA’s historical approach to industrial relations and move towards full collective bargaining for its employees.
“Lessons need to be learned and resistance has got ASDA nowhere. After everything these workers have given this business over the last year, their voices must be heard.”
The story is unlikely to end here, however.
An Asda spokesperson said:“This ruling relates to one stage of a complex case that is likely to take several years to reach a conclusion. We are defending these claims because the pay in our stores and distribution centres is the same for colleagues doing the same jobs regardless of their gender.
“Retail and distribution are very different sectors with their own distinct skill sets and pay rates. Asda has always paid colleagues the market rate in these sectors and we remain confident in our case.”
The company stresses that yesterday’s ruling only relates to Stage One of the Equal Value process and is not the conclusion of the case.
The second stage of the process will now consider whether store and distribution roles are of ‘equal value’. This could potentially be followed by a third stage in the process that would consider if there are any factors other than gender why the roles should not be paid equally.
As trade unionists, we stand united against the epidemic of male violence. We also stand against the disproportionate threat of male violence faced by women, by Black and migrant communities, by LGBT+ individuals and by disabled people.
Violence against women and girls is rooted in structural inequalities and power imbalances between men and women. Women’s experience of violence is shaped by other factors such as ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, immigration status and disability. Experiencing intersecting inequalities compounds the threat of violence women face.
Male violence threatens women in all areas of their lives – in our homes, workplaces, and in public and digital spaces. Institutional and systemic failings enable and empower perpetrators and deny women safety and justice.
In the UK:
97 per cent of young women have been sexually harassed
One in two women are sexually harassed in the workplace
80 per cent of women of all ages have been sexually harassed in public
Women who report rape have a less than 4 per cent chance of it ever being heard in court
Three women are killed each week as a result of domestic abuse homicides
Women are not responsible for the actions of men.
We stand with survivors of male violence. With the families of Sarah Everard, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry and countless others who have lost a loved one to violence.
Government must act now to dismantle institutional sexism, racism and other forms of discrimination.
To start that work, we call on Ministers to:
1. Implement a new mandatory duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment at work and ratify ILO Convention No.190
2. Include migrant women within the Domestic Abuse Bill provisions and ensure safe reporting routes for women with insecure migration status
3. Reverse the cuts to public services and ensure all relevant public sector staff receive enhanced training on preventing and responding to violence against women
4. Provide long-term funding commitments to support the provision of vital, life-saving services for survivors of domestic abuse and sexual violence that meet the level of need, including specialised by-and-for BME, LBT+ and disabled women’s services
5. Draw up a cross-departmental action plan to tackle the structural inequalities experienced by women, Black communities, LGBT+ and disabled people in work, health, education, housing and justice
We demand safety. We demand justice. We demand equality.
Westminster’s Women and Equalities Committee has published its report on coronavirus and the gendered economic impact. The report has found that the economic impact of coronavirus has affected men and women differently. This is because of existing gendered economic inequalities, the over-representation of women in certain types of work and the actions the Government has taken.
Conduct an Equality Impact Assessment of the Job Retention Scheme and the Self Employed Income Support Scheme. This should draw on existing inequalities and would better protect those already at a disadvantage in the labour market, including women. It could also inform more effective responses to future crises.
Assess the equality impact of the Industrial Strategy and the New Deal, and analyse who has benefited from the industrial strategy. Priorities for recovery are heavily gendered in nature, with investment plans skewing towards male dominated sectors.
Conduct an economic growth assessment of the care-led recovery proposals made by the Women’s Budget Group. (Treasury)
Maintain increases in support, including the £20 increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance. (Department for Work and Pensions)
Review the adequacy of and eligibility for Statutory Sick Pay. Women are over represented among those who are not eligible.
Legislate to extend redundancy protection to pregnant women and new mothers.
Review childcare provision to provide support for working parents and those who are job seeking or retraining.
Reinstate gender pay gap reporting and include parental leave policies, ethnicity and disability.
Provide better data to improve reporting and analysis on how gender, ethnicity, disability, age and socio-economic status interact to compound disadvantage.
Ensure that the Government Equalities Office and Minister for Women are more ambitious and proactive.
Committee Chair Caroline Nokes said: “As the pandemic struck, the Government had to act quickly to protect jobs and adapt welfare benefits. “These have provided a vital safety net for millions of people. But it overlooked the labour market and caring inequalities faced by women.
“These are not a mystery, they are specific and well understood. And yet the Government has repeatedly failed to consider them.
“This passive approach to gender equality is not enough. And for many women it has made existing equality problems worse: in the support to self-employed people, to pregnant women and new mothers, to the professional childcare sector, and for women claiming benefits. And it risks doing the same in its plans for economic recovery.
“We heard evidence from a wide range of organisations, including Maternity Action, the National Hair and Beauty Federation, the TUC, the Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years, the single parents campaign group Gingerbread, the Young Women’s Trust and the Women’s Budget Group. And written evidence from many more.
“The message from our evidence is clear: Government policies have repeatedly skewed towards men—and it keeps happening.
“We need to see more than good intentions and hoping for the best. The Government must start actively analysing and assessing the equality impact of every policy, or it risks turning the clock back.
“Our report sets out a package of twenty recommendations for change and a timescale. Taken together, these will go a long way towards tackling the problems and creating the more equal future that so many women—and men—want to see.
“The Government should seize this opportunity.”
Responding to today’s report by the Woman and Equalities Committee, which sets out how women have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady (above) said: “Women have been put in an impossible situation during the pandemic – often expected to work and look after children at the same time.
“Too many working mums are having to cut their hours or being forced to leave their jobs because they cannot manage.
“If ministers don’t act, women will be pushed out of the labour market. And that means women’s and children’s poverty will soar.
“Ministers must give all parents a temporary right to be furloughed now.
“And they must fix the UK’s lamentable support for working parents. That means giving all parents at least ten days’ paid parental leave each year, making real flexible working available to all, and funding childcare properly.
“Unless ministers strengthen rights and support for working parents, women’s equality risks being set back decades.”
On the committee’s recommendation to carry out and publish an equality impact assessment on how government policies have affected women, Frances O’Grady added: “The government must urgently carry out and publish equality impact assessments of all its policies during this pandemic.
“This crisis, and the government’s response to it, is deepening inequalities for women at work.”
A TUC survey of 52,000 working mums published earlier this month revealed that 9 in 10 had experienced higher levels of anxiety and stress levels during this latest lockdown.
Nearly three-quarters (71%) of those who had applied for furlough following the latest school closures have had their requests turned down.
The TUC says this situation results from the UK’s failure to help families balance paid work and childcare.
It is calling on the government to introduce:
A new temporary right to furlough for groups who cannot work because of coronavirus restrictions – both parents and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable and required to shield.
Ten days’ paid parental leave, from day one in a job, for all parents. Currently parents have no statutory right to paid leave to look after their children.
A right to flexible work for all parents. Flexible working can take lots of different forms, including having predictable or set hours, working from home, job-sharing, compressed hours and term-time working.
Give additional financial support to the childcare sector so that childcare providers can continue to offer support to working parents.
An increase in sick pay to at least the level of the real Living Wage, for everyone in work, to ensure workers can afford to self-isolate if they need to.
Newly self-employed parents to have access the self-employment income support scheme (SEISS).
MSPs call for action to tackle ‘institutional racism’ in public sector employment
MSPs have called for public bodies to be compelled to publish employee ethnicity pay data to address “institutional racism” and tackle the “unacceptable” levels of unemployment and in-work poverty among minority ethnic communities in Scotland.
Holyrood’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee, which has been investigating what actions are being taken to make sure minority ethnic communities have parity of employment and career progression, urged public authorities to produce an action plan to increase the number of people they employ from minority ethnic communities and reduce the ethnicity pay gap in their organisations.
The focus of the Committee’s inquiry was employers covered by the Public Sector Equality Duty under the Equality Act 2010, which includes large employers like local authorities, health boards as well as other public bodies.
Removal of the barriers faced by black and minority ethnic groups in accessing employment opportunities is key to addressing inequalities in housing, health, education, and participation in public life.
The Committee heard evidence that, despite various initiatives, recruitment, retention and progression of minority ethnic groups in the workplace had regressed over the last two decades and that there was a resistance on the part of employers to acknowledge the existence of institutional racism and its effects.
MSPs made a series of recommendations to address the issues highlighted by the inquiry. In a report published today, the Committee called for more use of “positive actions” to address under-representation of minority ethnic communities in the public sector workforce, and new regulations to require public bodies to publish their ethnicity pay gap, with an action plan to deliver identified outcomes with associated timescales.
Committee Convener, Ruth Maguire MSP, said:“The inquiry heard evidence that unemployment and in-work poverty remains disproportionately higher for people from minority ethnic communities than it is in the majority of the population. We are seriously concerned by the lack of progress in tackling this issue.
“It is extremely disappointing and frustrating that we regularly have to revisit this issue, and it’s little wonder that during our inquiry we heard many witnesses and representatives of black and minority ethnic communities refer to ‘consultation fatigue’.
“From the evidence we heard, there is a sense that many employers prefer to look outwards rather than inwards; as though the issue lies with the minority ethnic communities, when the reality is that the issue lies with the public authorities themselves.
“It is evident that a key factor within this is the failure of the leaders of public authorities to acknowledge the existence of institutional racism and, in so doing, failing to act to deliver a culture shift within their organisations.
“The Committee is unanimously of the view that, despite all the mechanisms at the disposal of public authorities, including their equality duties and responsibilities, the ethnicity employment gap remains unacceptable and much more needs to be done to reduce the ethnicity pay gap, so we see more minority ethnic people in senior positions.”
Ms Maguire added: “Leaders of public authorities need to be accountable for their organisations’ record on employment of ethnic minority people. They must demonstrate leadership in this area. Now is the time for them to take concerted, definitive action.
“To address the lack of progress to date and decades of damage, our report recommends that public sector employers prioritise employment from minority ethnic communities within their strategic plans. We also recommend the Scottish Government regulates to ensure public authorities publish their ethnicity pay gap figures and set out actions to deliver improvements within an agreed timeframe.
“We sincerely hope that our successor committee will not have to revisit this subject, unless it is to reflect on the result of positive action, accountability, and eradication of institutional racism in Scotland.”
A summary of written evidence in response to the Committee’s call for views has been published on its webpage. The committee also held oral evidence sessions throughout September 2020.
Today (Thursday 1st October) marks ten years since the Equality Act 2010 became law and GMB Scotland will be marking the anniversary with an online event, bringing together prominent lawyers and activists to discuss what the Act has meant for women workers, and what challenges still lie ahead.
The event is being hosted by GMB Scotland’s Women’s Campaign Unit, which is dedicated to organising women workers, to tackle pay injustice and inequality, and to challenge all employers and politicians, whether they be in local councils, Scottish or UK Governments, to properly value women’s work.
It can be watched live at 19.00 hours tonight (Thursday 1 October) or watched via GMB Scotland’s Facebook page afterwards:
GMB Scotland Organiser Rhea Wolfson said:“There have been many significant victories won for and by women in the past ten years but despite the Equality Act and other anti-discrimination legislation, women’s work is woefully and systematically undervalued and underpaid.
“The question is, what now for women workers? The COVID crisis has surfaced some of the worst unchallenged cases of chronic low pay and exploitation of working women, none more so than sectors like social care where workers have been placed in the eye of a storm.
“It’s confirmed what we already knew. We need significant political and legal interventions to build a proper framework that’s support campaigns being led by women workers across Scotland to fight for pay justice.”
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is underlining its commitment to building an inclusive and diverse workforce as the country celebrates Pride Month 2020.
Pride Month is an annual event which brings together communities in celebration of the LGBT+ community. It is an opportunity for people to stand together in unity as well as protest against discrimination in all its forms.
The SFRS has already been recognised by Stonewall Scotland as a Diversity Champion, and continues to work closely with Stonewall and other partners to encourage people from all walks of life to consider a career with the service.
The coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and the ongoing need to socially distance has seen many Pride events postponed or moved during June.
However the national service will be taking part in socially distanced or virtual Pride events whilst also promoting positive discussion and debate for staff around building a more inclusive workforce.
The rainbow flag is also flying over SFRS’ regional headquarters at Dyce in Aberdeenshire, Newbridge in Edinburgh and Hamilton in Lanarkshire as well as over the national headquarters and training centre in Cambuslang, near Glasgow.
Meanwhile, a rainbow version of the SFRS crest is proudly displayed on internal platforms and digital channels and rainbow lanyards are being made available for staff.
Less than one per cent of the SFRS’ 8,000 strong workforce across Scotland currently identifies as belonging to the LGBT+ community.
Liz Barnes is the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s director of human resources and organisational development. She said: “It is imperative that our service reflects the very diverse communities we serve.
“There is clearly much work still needing to be done – but we will continue to make every possible effort to achieve this ambition by working alongside our partners and our communities as well as our staff.
“We are therefore delighted to celebrate Pride Month 2020 and not only fly the pride colours from our buildings across the country but take part in active discussion and debate throughout the course of this month.”
She added: “We recognise that nothing can change overnight, and that true equality and diversity is earned through hard work and consistently challenging discriminating behaviours.”
It has been six months since the United Nations (UN) Disability Committee published its report about disability rights in the UK. In this report the UN Committee set out its main concerns about disability rights in the UK and lists over 80 recommendations for action by our governments.
We are holding a conference to talk about the UN Committee’s concerns and recommendations for action on:
Congratulations to Edinburgh & Lothian Racial Equality Council (ELREC), who won the Third Sector Organisation of the Year award at last night’s first Scottish Diversity Awards. Edinburgh Mela also picked up the Event of the Year award.Continue reading National award for ELREC
