March 5, 2007...10:33 am
MANY ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS
Public services in the UK are likely to be getting a financial hammering soon as the deadline approaches for local authorities to implement an equal pay structure for men and women .Labour MP Chris Mullin 
has warned that “no win-no fee” lawyers were unpicking agreements negotiated between councils and unions regarding equal pay. In some cases it has been found, that under European rulings, some women workers would be due as much as six years back pay as compensation culture (understandably) grips those who have been unequally paid up to the present day. This seems like a “chickens coming home to roost” scenario for may local authorities, especially those who have failed to tackle unequal pay structures and have not implemented much in the way of revisions and modernisations. In some cases, local authorities may choose to cut many jobs and leave to the mercies of private contractors than face the wholeback-pay issue and thus avoid the whole implementation of equal pay. Some local authority jobs pay pitifully low wages such as school dinner services where women may earn around £160 a week, substantially lower than any men in similar positions.
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