Very Big Victory on Equal Value in Cumbria
Huge National Implications

By Christine Warior (Branch Sec. UNISON)
At the beginning of the year the UNISON Health Branch in Cumbria won a devastating victory over equal pay for its women members. 1,500 women working for the North Cumbria Acute NHS Trust were awarded between about £30,000 and £240,000 in back pay as well as a substantial increase in their wage levels. In other areas the back pay issue may not be so significant but the increase in wage rates would be applicable to just about every trust in the country because the same basic structures and practices are endemic. The same pattern, of using women as cheap labour, applies to large sections of local authority pay too. So this case has immense implications far beyond the stunning victory for our members.

The star of the story has to be our local union officer, Peter Doyle. It has been his drive, imagination and dedication that has made this startling case possible. Despite all the threats and difficulties and the immense amount of work, he saw this through and we are very grateful to him for this.

The formal process began in August 1997 but in real terms it tracks back to a case we took in 1995. We went for a re-grading of CSSD Assistants, the people who put together the sterile packs for operating theatres. It was a small request, we were asking for 11p per week for 15 people. It would have cost the trust £85 to agree to it, but they just put up a brick wall. After we lost we asked them why they had resisted. Typical of the arrogant, nasty managerial behaviour , which every union activist in the NHS will recognise of their management, the reason they gave was "because we could".

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