City council refused permission to appeal in equal pay litigation

The Court of Session in Scotland has refused Glasgow City Council permission to appeal against an equal pay ruling affecting thousands of the local authority’s staff.

In August 2017 the court ruled that the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeals Tribunal had both been wrong in agreeing that a scheme used by Glasgow had been fair. The legal proceedings date back to 2006.

Unison Scotland had objected to the use of different scales for core pay and non-core pay work and said the system made it impossible for employees to know if they were being paid equally for equal work.

The local authority petitioned the Court of Session for permission to appeal its ruling but this was refused before Christmas.

Unison Scotland Regional Manager Peter Hunter said: “In a clear and unequivocal judgement read from the bench the Court immediately dismissed every shred of argument presented by the council lawyers….

“The Court could not have been more clear – the council do not have a valid pay system and they must address their obligations to women and do that now. Our members were in court and could not be more delighted. We look forward to the hard work of delivering justice for our people in the new year.”

Talks on compensation are due to start on 9 January.

Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, told the BBC: "This is a significant development in this long-running issue.

"We will continue to discuss this with claimants' representatives as part of ongoing negotiations which will continue into the New Year.

"I remain committed to working with all parties to achieve a resolution to this dispute."