Ditched by unions and lawyers.. we’ll never give up fight for justice
Women in last-ditch tribunal bid to resolve equal pay claims
THREE women owed thousands of pounds in equal pay are taking Scotland’s largest council to tribunal after being abandoned by their lawyers and unions.
Lorraine Donnachie, Audrey Masson and Helen Mitchell are among thousands of female workers to whom Glasgow city council agreed to pay £548million in compensation following a long-running dispute.
But they claim the council , unions and lawyers have not been transparent over how the settlements were calculated and have refused to explain why a portion of every claim was handed to a law firm, even when it hadn’t represented them.
Many women accepted their settlement offers after unions and claims firm Action4Equality recommended they do so. It later emerged almost 7 per cent of every claim was taken in legal fees, despite union members being entitled to free representation.
Lorraine, 61, has rejected settlement offers for £ 5000 and even £40,000 because the council, lawyers and her union GMB will not explain how the payouts are calculated.
The mum-oftwo, an assistant home care manager, is now taking her case to tribunal in a bid to gain answers.
Lorraine, from Balornock, Glasgow, said: “I’ve asked reasonable questions about how my offer was calculated but nobody can explain it.
“The toll this has taken on me and my family for more than 20 years has been huge but I’m not giving up until we get justice.”
The council worker first questioned the calculation system after learning of colleagues’ offers, which, in some cases, were much higher or lower than hers despite similar work patterns.
Lorraine, who began work at the authority in 1997, said: “The first offer in 2006 came three weeks before Christmas. The union took everyone into community centres and said ‘sign this’. It was more money than we’d ever had as we’re all in low paid work. Most women signed.
“In 2018 I was offered £40,000 for 12 years’ worth of equal pay. Last year they offered me £20,000 for 23 years of equal pay claims. It doesn’t make sense.”
To fund the payouts the council has had to sell off or remortgage some of the city’s assets and lease them back.
Audrey and Hel e n ea c h accepted offers though their unions, GMB and Unite, in 2018. But later they learned legal fees had been deducted from their settlements. In
Toll on me and family for over 20 years has been huge LorrAINe DoNNAcHIe eQual PaY ClaImant
2019 details emerged of a secret deal between the unions and claims firm Action4Equality, run by Stefan Cross. It saw 6.9 per cent of every claim deducted for fees with a proportion being given to Action4Equality, regardless of whether the firm represented them.
It represented most women but not all. Lawyer Cross is believed to have made millions of pounds from his involvement.
Home carer Audrey, 59, said: “We just want what we are owe d. Why should I be paying legal fees to someone who never represented me? Nobody has been able to explain that.”
More offers were made last year in a third wave of ongoing claims but both Helen and Audrey rejected theirs as they refused to pay legal fees when they should have been entitled to free representation as union members.
The women have also had complaints upheld against their union-backed lawyers, with watchdogs finding they “failed to act ”in their best interests.
All three women said their unions have refused to represent them in any future cases as they rejected their previous claims and are now taking employment tribunals themselves to try to recover the money.
Helen, 60, of Blairdardie, said: “I just wonder if Susan Aitken, the council leader, is aware of our cases and the issues here as she is holding up the equal pay dispute as something she is proud of.”
Glasgow City Council said: “Questions about how representatives negotiated on behalf of their members can only be addressed by them.”
GMB Scotland said it was unable to comment on individual cases but senior organiser Keir Greenaway added: “Our two members chose not to accept our advice and that was their decision to take.”
Action4Equality was contacted for comment.