The largest public sector union, UNISON, has warned that the battle for public services could tie up Britain’s legal system for decades with court claims against employers for failing to carry out equality impact assessments before cutting jobs and public services. Councils have spent years dealing with legal challenges to settle equal pay claims and union leaders warned they were ready to open a new front. The union has more than 30,000 equal pay claims live in the courts against more than 300 councils and 200 NHS trusts. Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, said: “The vast majority of our members are women and we have spent decades fighting for equal pay and to ensure that women are treated fairly in the workplace. We will not stand back and see all that work undone by councils cutting jobs indiscriminately.”
English: http://www.localgov.co.uk/index.cfm?method=news.detail&id=92064
via http://www.labourstart.org.uk/
For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI atwww.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2009.