Wigan Council: Scrap the job evaluation process in schools

Thousands of Wigan Metro staff – from roadsweepers and classroom assistants to town planners – are involved in a pay and conditions review. They have finalised new wage scales and terms and conditions which will be formally offered to the 9,000 employees from July 6.

The JE programme, which is taking place nationally but being interpreted individually by councils, came about after the 1997 Single Status agreement and the National Joint Council (NJC) agreement of five years ago.

This strives to commit councils to introduce equal pay for jobs of equal value and hopes to finally end any inequality between the sexes in pay and conditions that could be subject to legal challenge.
Almost 3,000 individual roles within Wigan Council have been assessed by a team comprising a manager, a union official and a job analyst, with a points system used to produce new pay scales.

More than a third of the council's staff – more than 3,000 people – have lodged an appeal against their pay scale evaluation. Unison say that months of pay and reward negotiations have only produced a terms and conditions package which is "unacceptable."
Mr Adams said: "The council intends to give 90 days formal notice of a change in people's contracts, even though many members will not know their pay.

What is being offered is wholesale cuts in terms and conditions to the people Job Evaluation was about and that is cuts in premiums and allowances to people who work unsociable hours. There are many issues about how the council has applied Job Evaluation which are unresolved.

Why does joyce redfern (Metro chief executive) not commit some of her salary of £350,000+ To the workers? she could always claim it back in expenses seeing as she has not taken a pay cut or been evaluated!