Taxpayers will pick up equal pay bill

Apr 29 2010 By The Stirrer

HARD-pressed Birmingham taxpayers could be forced to shell out a whopping £3 billion before the city council finally meets its obligations under equal pay laws.

That’s the worst case scenario painted by solicitor Stefan Cross who won a major legal battle this week by exposing the local authority’s discriminatory wage structure.

Staff in traditionally male dominated areas such as refuse collection pulled in more than £50,000 a year, while women care workers on the same grade scraped by on just £12,000.

The council denies they’ll have pay anything like the amount suggested by Cross, but the truth is that no one knows the full scale of the liabilities.

What’s certain is that departments already facing severe budget cutbacks and job losses are likely to find it harder than ever to deliver the kind of top quality service we all expect.

At times like this, it’s tempting to look for scapegoats and Cross himself has branded the council “gutless” for failing to settle out of court.

Maybe he’s on to something. But if we’re going to enter the world of finger-pointing, at least one digit should be wagging in the direction of the city’s previous Labour administration, who missed the opportunity to resolve the issue earlier.

The Single Status agreement, aimed at making equal pay a reality, was signed off in 1997, a full seven years before the current Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition came to power in Birmingham.

By the time Mike Whitby succeeded Sir Albert Bore as leader in 2004, dozens of other councils already had a settlement.

Let’s not forget the role played by the incoming Blair government and the unions either.

They eagerly signed up to Single Status as proof of their politically correct, pro-feminist credentials – but without realising the full implications of what they had done.

While there have undoubtedly been winners, Single Status has also meant that thousands of working class families are now considerably worse off – all in the name of equality.

The real beneficiaries are, as usual, lawyers like Mr Cross, who is already rubbing his hands with glee at the prospect of milking yet more money out of the case.

And every taxpayer in Birmingham will have to pick up the tab.