Glasgow City Council agree £770m equal pay settlement for workers

Glasgow City Council has agreed to pay around £770m to settle outstanding equal pay claims.

Around 19,000 former and current workers will receive the money, covering a “gap period” between the initial agreement reached in 2018 and the implementation of a new pay and grading system.

The council, which is the biggest in Scotland, agreed the deal after plans to sell key council-owned buildings including the City Chambers and Kelvingrove Art Gallery were previously agreed.

STV News reported how a sale-and-lease-back arrangement of some of the city’s most iconic buildings, first brought forward in 2019, has now been agreed.

The deal saw the council’s HQ along with Kelvingrove Art Gallery, the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) and Kelvin Hall as well as school campuses at Sighthill and Gowanbank to a council-owned firm.

The money has been put towards settling the equal pay claims.

Council leader Susan Aitken said she is “delighted” the authority can “deliver the final stage of pay justice” that women working for the authority “fought long and hard for”.

She spoke after a deal was reached between the council and workers represented by Action 4 Equality, the GMB, Unison and Unite unions.

Ms Aitken said: “I am delighted we have reached agreement with claimants’ representatives and can deliver the final stage of the pay justice that many Glaswegian women have fought long and hard for.”

She added: “We always knew that the lag between the first agreement four years ago and putting in place a new pay and grading structure meant additional payments would be made.

“But despite the length, complexity and challenges of this process, not least the impact of the pandemic, the city government has never wavered in our commitment to ensuring these women were compensated for the persistent undervaluing of their work over many years.”

Ms Aitken said the new pay and grading system will prevent future pay discrimination.

She said: “The complex process of replacing the council’s pay and grading system to make it discrimination-proof is well advanced and will draw a line under the era of pay discrimination in Glasgow City Council.”