What are you doing next Tuesday?

I’m pleased to see next week’s lobby of Parliament headlining on the UNISON website. You can even click on a link to watch a video of the Head of Local Government…!

I must admit I am struggling to mobilise members for the lobby at the moment (London branches are historically poor at lobbying Parliament because we don’t have to do so much work arranging transport etc. and tend to leave it all to the last minute).

A bit more publicity about the lobby earlier would have helped (that is the way to build a really big lobby of Parliament).

Still, better late than never! The key problem underlying the slow implementation of pay and grading reviews in local government and the consequent litigation is the consistent refusal of the Government to fund filling the gender pay gap.

I remember hearing Gordon Brown at the TUC in 2005 saying; “Our aim: to move to ending once and for all the gender pay gap.” This was in the context of the TUC in 2004 having agreed a proposal from UNISON calling for “full funding to tackle the gender pay gap across the economy, in particular the public sector.” Is Gordon Brown really listening on this???

Tuesday’s lobby of Parliament is therefore certainly not premature. I’ll have another go at encouraging attendance from my own branch and look forward to seeing you all there next week!