(Tuesday 2 December 2008)
MALCOLM BURNS reviews the latest goings-on north of the border.
A quality of life issue
IT'S not often that former Labour chief whip Jackie Baillie MSP has everyone agreeing with her, even or maybe especially in her own party.But the stage-one reading of her Disabled Persons' Parking Places (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament last week turned into a bit of a love-in.
Not only did Lib Dems and Tories praise her in order to bask in the warm glow of the moment, but the SNP government judged the initiative worth supporting and even agreeing to find resources for.
So what is this worthy initiative? A Bill to make disabled parking spaces legally enforceable. It's actually so simple that you wonder why it wasn't law before.
Of the one million disabled people resident in Scotland, 96,000 are registered wheelchair users and almost 230,000 are registered blue badge holders. But almost 85 per cent of disabled parking bays are advisory, which means that anyone can park in them without risk of being penalised. Local authorities, at present, simply rely on other drivers' goodwill not to park in designated places.
Baillie's Bill would require councils to make these legally enforceable - in other words, you'd be liable to a parking fine if you used one without a blue badge.
As well as being an issue of equality, it is a quality of life issue too.
The East Dunbartonshire MSP had done her homework on the main issue which might have caused the Bill problems - the cost of implementation.
Highland Council indicated that it would take two workers 12 years to identify where its 400 or so disabled parking spaces were and to promote a traffic regulation order, yet it would only take two from Glasgow one year to do over 4,000 spaces, Baillie reported in the debate.
"And why does the process of designating a bay cost £119 in Fife and £466 in Glasgow?" Baillie asked. "The higher cost of paint in Glasgow remains a mystery worthy of Arthur C Clarke."
Parliament unanimously agreed that the Bill should move forward to its next stage and it is likely to become law next year. Around Scotland is happy to add congratulations to Baillie on a small piece of progress towards a fairer Scotland.
That's rich coming from the bankers
THE Scottish media credulously and uncritically reported last week that the average wage in our little segment of northern Europe's erstwhile "arc of prosperity" was up from £23,080 in 2003 to £28,296 in 2008.That's almost a quarter more in five years or the equivalent of a 4.2 per cent increase each year. The figures were produced by our friends at the Bank of Scotland, apparently on the basis of official UK earnings statistics.
Good old statistics. Black is white, according to nine out of 10 people who responded to a recent survey.
Bank of Scotland chief economist Martin Ellis makes this conclusion: "Average earnings in Scotland have risen by more than retail prices over the past five years, indicating an increase in living standards for the typical worker."
But there's treachery in the words "typical" and "average." I'm pretty sure that I know a hell of a lot more typical workers in Scotland who are paid below the £28,296 line than way above it.
The Bank of Scotland's number-crunchers have used the mean average - total pay divided by number of people paid. But that doesn't reflect typical pay at all. The very high earnings of the fat cats, including the bankers themselves, bring the mean average up.
STUC deputy general secretary Dave Moxham points out that the median figure - the point at which half of earners are below and half above - is more accurate.
"The median salary in Scotland is considerably lower than £28,000," the STUC official explains, "while 23 per cent of Scots are living on poverty pay of around £12,000 to £13,000 a year."
He states that "Scotland has one of the highest levels of wage inequality among major developed countries."
That is a point which could and should be addressed by the governments in Scotland and the UK as we head into a recession.
I am sure that the Scottish public-sector workers who have been striking for fair pay this year, including those in Scottish Water, might have settled for a 4.2 per cent increase each year over the last five. It would at least have kept them more or less in line with inflation.
Why Scottish water workers are angry
WORKERS in the real world have lost out badly over the last few years of restricted pay settlements and rising inflation.It's rather different to the feather-bedded world inhabited by Bank of Scotland high-fliers and even the directors of a big publicly accountable corporation like Scottish Water.
Research by UNISON Scotland shows that staff pay in Scottish Water has lagged behind inflation and even further behind what the directors pay themselves ever since the corporation was formed in 2002.
"The latest retail prices index for October 2008 shows that prices are 23 per cent higher than they were in the middle of 2002," the union said. "In contrast, wages in Scottish Water have only risen by about 15 per cent in the same period.
"The current pay increase of 3 per cent for 15 months from April 2008 (equivalent to 2.4 per cent over one year) which has been imposed by Scottish Water does not help workers to catch up with the price increases which they have faced in the last few years.
"In contrast with staff wages, the remunerations of Scottish Water's executive directors has risen substantially since 2002. Three executive directors who have been on the board continually have seen their annual salaries (excluding bonuses) rise from an average of £108,000 in 2002/03 to £172,000 in 2007/08.
"That represents an average executive director increase of nearly 60 per cent - more than twice the increase in RPI over the same period and almost four times the increase in staff salaries."
These very directors bleat that they must pay the workers in line with Scottish government pay guidelines - which are themselves a reflection of Britain's regressive public pay policy - even though the accounts show that there is money available for a fair settlement. In fact, workers have helped Scottish Water make savings of more than £1 billion in the last few years.
Labour MSP Bill Butler has tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament recognising that Scottish Water is publicly owned and accountable to Scottish ministers, who are responsible for setting the pay remit and approving any pay deal.
Butler's motion calls on the Scottish government to engage directly to resolve this dispute and ensure that public servants are awarded a fair and negotiated pay settlement.
Last week, the three Scottish water unions UNISON, Unite and GMB held a well-supported 24-hour strike for fair pay. The action was unprecedented - but, unless there is some movement by the government and directors, it will be repeated this week.
Climate march
ANOTHER week and another demo.On Saturday, the Scottish Climate Change march in Glasgow will call for just solutions to climate change at Holyrood, Westminster and at the United Nations talks in Poznan, Poland.
The demo is supported by UNISON Scotland, Friends of the Earth and the World Development Movement among others. It starts at the Amphitheatre, Clyde Street, Glasgow at 12.30pm. Regular Star contributor Richard Leonard of GMB Scotland will be one of the speakers.
Visit www.scottishclimatemarch.info and www.globalclimatecampaign.org for more info.
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