Scottish women ‘fight for equal pay’ after being ‘abandoned by lawyers’

Three Scottish women, due thousands in equal pay, are resorting to an employment tribunal after claiming they were failed by their legal representatives 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.

However, they state that the council, unions, and lawyers have lacked transparency regarding the calculation of these settlements, and question why a portion of each claim was sent to a law firm when said firm had not represented them.

READ MORE – Scottish NHS worker trapped in mangled car after running toddler and mum off road

READ MORE – We tried Edinburgh’s new vegan kebab as a meat eater and it left us confused

Many of the women accepted the settlement offers on the recommendation of unions and claims company Action4Equality. Yet it transpired that almost seven per cent of every claim was subtracted for legal costs, even whilst union members were entitled to representation free of charge.

61-year-old Lorraine has deflected payout offers of £5,000 and even an impressive £40,000, due to the reluctance of council, solicitors, or her own union GMB to explicate how the compensations were calculated. Now, the mother of two and home care manager is taking her fight to tribunal hoping for clarity.

From Balornock, North Glasgow, Lorraine stated: “I’ve asked reasonable questions about how my offer was calculated but nobody can explain it.”, reports the Daily Record.

She added: “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.”

A council employee became suspicious of the compensation calculation after noticing the inconsistency in offers received by her colleagues for equal pay claims, despite having similar work histories.

Lorraine, who has been with the council since 1997, expressed her bewilderment: “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.”

She continued to detail the confusing offers: “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 manage these payouts, the council has resorted to selling or remortgaging city assets and leasing them back.

Colleagues Audrey and Helen accepted their settlements through their unions, GMB and Unite, in 2018, only to discover later that legal fees had been subtracted from their payouts.

In 2019, it was revealed that there was a clandestine agreement between the unions and the claims company Action4Equality, led by Stefan Cross, which stipulated that 6.9 per cent of each claim would be taken for fees, with a share going to Action4Equality, irrespective of representation.

Although Cross’s firm represented many women, it did not represent all. It is believed that Cross has earned millions from his involvement in the process.

Audrey, a 59 year old home carer, voiced her frustration: “We just want what we are owed. Why should I be paying legal fees to someone who never represented me? Nobody has been able to explain that.”

Both Audrey and Helen rejected the additional offers made during the third wave of ongoing claims last year. They rebuffed the notion of shouldering legal fees when they maintained that they were entitled to free representation as union members.

Watchdogs validated their complaints against their union-supported lawyers, noting that they did not act in their best interests.

As all three women rejected previous claims, they announced that their unions declined future case representation. The women are now taking matters into their hands, spearheading employment tribunals to reclaim the money.

Helen, a 60 year old resident of Blairdardie, expressed her concerns: “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.”

Responding to this, Glasgow City Council stated: “Questions about how representatives negotiated on behalf of their members can only be addressed by them.”

While GMB Scotland refrained from commenting on individual cases, senior organiser Keir Greenaway said: “Our two members chose not to accept our advice and that was their decision to take.”

Action4Equality was also approached for their response.