No glitz.. but MeToo has arrived for our women
better times ahead for undervalued women is something her Labour predecessors had shamefully failed to offer while in administration for 37 uninterrupted years.
Yes, it reeks to the heavens that Labour politicians offer their support now despite it being a Labour authority that set up the system of routinely paying females less than males, and which then spent £2.5million on a court battle to fight the pay claims.
And yes, the unions have had more than a decade to call out the workers – male and female – to right this disgraceful wrong.
But to diminish their stance to a purely political one is to undermine these protesters yet again.
How many of these hard-worked staff – with families to feed and homes to run, some of them as single parents – would lose two days’ pay just to give the SNP a kicking or support Labour in their point-scoring?
Do you think they care that much who pays their wages as long as they blooming well pay them fairly?
The women have simply had enough. They’re having their #MeToo moment. A worldwide movement has reached them. And their action is every bit as important as that of the Hollywood actresses wearing fancy black dresses to the Golden Globes in protest against sexual harassment in their industry.
Some of those fancy black dresses would cost half a year’s salary for many of the women who turned out in Glasgow.
They’re not fighting for the right to walk red carpets unmolested, they’re looking for equal pay for cleaning council carpets. They’re not insisting on the same millions as their male co-stars, they want the same hourly rate as their male counterparts.
The worlds they inhabit may be different but the right they demand is the same: Equality. They don’t have access to a glittering stage to make sure everyone hears them say “Time’s Up” so the streets of Glasgow will have to do.
Time’s Up, Glasgow City Council. Pay up.