Whos best at getting equal pay for women?
Thousands of women began legal proceedings against trade unions last week, claiming they have been negligent in handling equal pay claims. Newcastle law firm Stefan Cross has issued almost 3,000 claims against Unison, GMB, Unite T&G and the Royal College of Nurses on behalf of cleaners, care workers and kitchen staff. ‘The unions’ failure to grasp the nettle of equal pay, be straight with their members, and use the law on their behalf has been all too apparent,’ says Stuart Hill of Action for Equality, a company owned by Stefan Cross. Cath Mullins, 58, who has worked for Middlesbrough Council as a carer for 22 years, is one of the women arguing that her union has been negligent. She claims to have been advised that she had no equal pay claim by the GMB on the grounds that she was ‘a white-collar worker’ having moved into sheltered accommodation work. ‘If I’m a white-collar worker, why do I wear plastic gloves and pinnies and clean commodes?’ she says. Colleagues who did not make the mo
