The 1998 devolution legislation is now creating division and injustice in the UK trade union movement

The GMB Union, ‘Britain’s General Union’, with nearly half a million membership, some 40% of them women, is now another example of how the injustice against the English people inherent in the 1998 devolution legislation is penetrating every aspect of our national life. That is what the GMB membership in England has found out to their cost. That is what has now come to light because of an exchange of letters between one GMB member and the Union HQ.
Said Ken Seaton from Stockport in Cheshire: ‘I wrote to the GMB National Secretary for local services Brian Strutton to ask ‘Can you explain why GMB members in England were advised to accept 2.45% for 08/09 on the basis that that was the best that could be obtained by negotiation whilst Scottish members were advised to reject the larger offer of 3.02%? And am I correct in understanding that the 09/10 pay award for Scotland’s G|MC council workers was 2.5% whilst our offer in England is 0.5%? I asked Mr Strutton if the Scottish GMB was devolved from the rest of our Union and whether we all pay the same subs. I asked him if the Scottish membership were to take industrial action to widen the pay scales even further, would their strike pay come just from the Scottish GMB or from the UK-wide GMC membership. As I wrote to the Union, it looks like devolution has put Scotland in a win-win situation; and I asked what was the Union position on an English Parliament’
‘And the reply I received? Mr Strutton replied that Scottish local government has been separate from that of England, Wales and NI for the past ten years, that is since devolution and that’s why there are different pay offers and why GMB members in Scotland take their own decisions. In other words, said Mr Seaton, when it comes to the basic reason for having a union, namely wages, the Scottish GMB is a separate union altogether. Mr Strutton did not answer any of my other questions.
‘It makes me really angry. That is why I got on to the Campaign for an English Parliament about it and it’s one reason why I joined the campaign. Top-up fees for English university students, not for Scottish students; English old people forced to sell their homes to pay for personal care in care homes but not in Scotland; prescription charges and parking charges at hospitals here but not there; and wage settlements for council workers, nurses, teachers and the police bigger and better in Scotland. Just some of the examples of the discrimination England is now experiencing.
‘What we are witnessing,’ said Scilla Cullen Chairman of the Campaign commenting on this GMB correspondence ‘boils down to two things. It’s now not only English MPs who are supinely accepting a worse deal within the UK for their constituents and doing nothing about it but also trade union leaderships.
Gordon Brown is certainly fulfilling the pledge he made in writing in March 1989 to the Scottish people in the 'Scottish Claim of Right' that vowed to make the welfare of the people of Scotland paramount in everything he says and does. He parades what he calls 'Britishness' but in reality his first concern is Scotland. It just isn’t right, it just isn’t fair.’
Contact:

Michael Knowles CEP Media Unit.
Tel: 01260 271139. Email: michael-knowles@tiscali.co.uk

This more than likely applies to all Unions across board and you should contact and question your Union and demand answers.