Thousands of women employed by Cordia Services will take industrial action over the collapse of equal pay negotiations with Glasgow City Council (GCC).
GMB members demand Glasgow City Council settle equal pay claim
GMB Scotland’s ballot of members delivering home care, school cleaning and catering services across Glasgow closed this afternoon (Thursday 13 September), returning an overwhelming 98 per cent support for strike action.
Enough is enough – it’s time to deliver what we are owed.
The GMB has over 2,800 members in Cordia providing around the clock home care for 87,000 service users, as well as cleaning and catering services for schools and amenities across the city.
The trade union represents over 2,000 of an estimated 10,000 women with live second wave equal pay claims against GCC, with the overwhelming majority employed by the arms-length organisation.
Rhea Wolfson, GMB Scotland Organiser
GMB Scotland Organiser Rhea Wolfson said:
This is a significant moment, not just in the long history of Glasgow’s equal pay scandal but in the fight back against institutionalised discrimination and sexism at work.
Thousands of women who have been robbed by their employer for years have sent a loud and clear message to this council and to the country: “Enough is enough – it’s time to deliver what we are owed.”
Hazel Nolan, GMB Scotland organiser
GMB Scotland Organiser Hazel Nolan added:
Over the last ten months the joint claimant organisations have sat with council officials to try and start a process of negotiation that would deliver settlements for our members, but we have been stonewalled since day one.
There is no confidence in this process among our women and without cast-iron guarantees from the council that meaningful negotiations can be revived then Glasgow is facing waves of industrial action across key services in the coming weeks and months.
Monica Lennon MSP
The SNP came into power having promised to settle but women are still being failed
Commenting on the announcement Scottish Labour Communities and Equalities spokesperson Monica Lennon MSP said:
The Cordia women are on the frontline caring for vulnerable people in their own homes and helping to run our schools, in catering and cleaning jobs.
They deserve pay justice and they deserve it now. It should never have reached this point and on behalf of Scottish Labour I apologise that the legacy of pay inequality wasn’t resolved when our party led Glasgow City Council.
An apology, however, doesn’t pay the bills. The SNP came into power having promised to settle but women are still being failed. I stand in solidarity with the trade union women who are exercising the right to withdraw their labour. Progressives in all parties must get behind their cause and ensure that pay justice is delivered for the women of Glasgow.
