'Bring our sisters' pay up'

Unite delegate Heather Gilfillan made a powerful contribution in a debate on an emergency motion on Glasgow City Council, which has recently threatened 20,000 of its workers with fire and rehire.

Heather called the situation in Glasgow “illuminating”, adding that Unite last year had “made it crystal clear” that “fire and rehire must be completely banned”.

“No exemptions, no carve outs for local authorities, no ambiguity,” she said.

“Yet here we are — a hostile SNP council threatening over 20,000 workers with fire and rehire: the largest fire and rehire in history, three months before the changes to the Employment Rights Act come into place,” Heather continued.

She said she welcomed the pause announced over the weekend for negotiations but she added that “the threat should never have been there – it needs to be permanently off the table.”

Heather countered the SNP council’s claim that they need to make these cuts to make the demands for women workers to receive equal pay.

“A decade and a half of local government cuts mean they can’t afford to bring women workers’ pay up to what they are worth,” Heather noted. “The fight for equal pay for work of equal value is never a demand for pay cuts!”

Paying tribute to women strikers at Ford’s Dagenham, at Grunwick, Trico-Folberth, Leeds Clothing and more, she said, “Our sisters who struggled to deliver equal pay were not demanding that everyone be equally low paid.”

“They wanted decent and fair pay for all,” Heather added.

She highlighted scandals over the last few years involving fire and rehire, including at P&O Ferries and British Airways during Covid.

“The Labour government must step in; council cuts must end; all local government workers need restorative pay following a decade and a half of cuts,” Heather said to applause.

Concluding, she added, “Councils need the budgets to be able to tackle pay discrimination fairly by bringing our sisters’ pay up.”

By Hajera Blagg

Photo by Mark Thomas