The city council has agreed to settle. We were on this road, i wanted to sing the song 500 miles. Were here, and we would have walked 500 more to get our equal pay. Yeah the citys now facing a massive bill half a billion pounds in compensation. The headlines would have you believe that the battles over. Music every 1s a winner by hot chocolate in june this year, the cheques began to arrive in the post. Some receiving offers of up to £200,000. For many, its been life changing. Frances. Sam from the bbc. Nice to meet you. How are you doing . Hi. Im good. Oh, my goodness thats my tv wall. Thats where the tvs going up. Right, ive just spotted the. What size is that television . 75 inches. 75 . Yeah. Thats going to go up here. Itll be like sitting in the cinema. Right. Thats going to be up here. Thats my kitchen. Fridge freezer. Fantastic. And thats going to be an island. Bar stools. Thats the machine. Thats the dishwasher. Theres going to be a big chimney there as well. Cannae wait im going to have a wee girls night when we get it all done with all my pals. Aye, so we can all celebrate together. Its good just to say, right, i can go in and get what i want, do you know what i mean . Fantastic. Never been able to do that, just go in and say, right, im paying it off, cash. Yes they are entitled to five years back pay from the date of their clean. But because Glasgow City Councils taken so long to settle, claimants are entitled to compensation for every year it remains unresolved. It means women like francis are receiving checks for more than a decade of discrimination. Its money that we work hard for. How much did you get . I cant tell you. The city council says. It is in our clause that we arent allowed to say how much we get. How do you know whether what you got was fair as we dont. Other women are still getting their settle m e nt other women are still getting their settlement letters. How are you feeling . Nervous. They came through this morning, its a big envelope. You havent seen it over secular not at all. How many years has been in the making . 12 years. Too long. I have a friend up the road who died waiting. Thats too long. What is it mean to you was yellow hopefully i wont need to go out and do over time, so wont need to go out and do over time, so i spend time with my husband and daughter. Hopefully thats what it means. But im not sure. We arent allowed to tell each other you cant tell me whats in here was yellow no. There we go. Its yours. 0h here was yellow no. There we go. Its yours. Oh gosh, 0k. Here goes. Dont know what is the front and the back. Ok. Certainlya dont know what is the front and the back. Ok. Certainly a lot of pages, guys. The paperwork simply states a figure. There are no details as to how the sum has been worked out or what deductions have been made. Right. Its an offer helen realises shell have to take on trust. Well, ill have to break it down. But im not one of the ones thats swinging from the trees whistling dixie, but its not as low as i expected. But ill have to look through my hours and my overtime, but im not one of these people wholl be running out to buy their houses and their cars or anything like that. They dont tell us how theyve worked it out, so i still feel demeaned. Youre blindfolded, youre gagged, you cant talk to your colleagues, you cant talk out with family members. Why . Theres something wrong there. So. It is what it is. And i would love to tell you, but they would take my money off me. The most that claimants in the current settlement can receive is 12 years compensation, yet post after post on a Facebook Page suggest many women are receiving far less, and are very unhappy. Guys, hi, nice to see you again. I meet up with helen again, who introduces me to fiona and audrey. All three are care workers, and all have worked for Glasgow City Council for more than 12 years. Fiona and audrey have only received compensation for five years of unequal pay. Youve got somebody getting 12 year, youve worked alongside all they years, and another persons getting five year. Theres no equality in any of that. Theres no equality at all. We stood on they picket lines for equality, and we didnt even get it. But there was even girls that didnt know to put in a claim. Theres people worked for 30 years, and not even. Years. And not getting a claim. Knew to put in a claim. Whose faults that . Unions. The unions. Unions. A lot of the lassies out there are lone working, dont see anybody. Thats right. So how are you meant to get this all passed on . Through your unions. And did your unions advise you . No. Took our union dues, and we didnt even warrant a stamp. Thats the way i see it. Didnt warrant a stamp to tell us to make a claim. Some claims were going in, though, by a firm called action 4 equality, for years a thorn in the side of local authorities, pursuing equal pay cases against them. So far, its successfully represented 300,000 cases around the uk, reaching settlements of almost £4 billion. I last interviewed its director stefan cross 11 years ago when, he says, the unions were campaigning against them. Hello. How are you . Its been some time. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Thank you. We had the trade unions picketing meetings to stop people getting in to hear about the equal pay struggle. When we say to stop people getting in, to stop the women from getting in . Yeah. They often told the women that it would cost them theirjobs, or other peoplesjobs, if they pursued their cases, or it would bankrupt the council. It was a guilt trip against the women to dissuade them from pursuing these cases. I ask him about what fiona and audrey in glasgow had told me that many women were only receiving five years compensation. So you have half the women getting their 13 years worth of claim, and the other half getting a maximum of five years of claim, because their claims were not put in at the right time. Whose fault is that . Thats just. But who didnt put the claims in . Well, they didnt put the claims in. The trade unions will say, we did tell our members, they just didnt listen. And it is a legal requirement that each individual must make their own decision as to whether they pursue a claim. So thats the technical defence to the position. However, its undoubtedly the case that there was not a campaign by the trade unions in the early days to put in cases. And as a result, how many women have lost out . There are literally tens of thousands of women who have missed out. And it seems its notjust women in glasgow who may have lost out. Alison martin runs dm legal, a claims company in wishaw. Shes preparing to take on the unions for their behaviour during the equal pay fight. This is an old hairdressers, you said . Yes, old hairdressers. Do you want to come through . Yes, absolutely. Theyre there to fight for the people, the normal working class people, theyre meant to protect these people. The unions are meant to be there to kick up a big storm about it and make sure people are getting treated properly. And did you find that was not the case . Really, really, really, you know, i cannae emphasise it any more, its the opposite of the case. Theyre meant to be the guardians of the working class people, this one says theyve never been told anything from their union. Is that a common theme . It is quite a common theme. Dm legal now says it is preparing action against the unions. Youre suing them . We are suing them. Breach of contract, negligence. Failure of care, breach of judiciary negligence. Failure of care, breach ofjudiciary duty. Part of any case will include testimony from former Union Officials in lanarkshire. We have union reps that have came forward to tell us they were told, do not accompany them, do not help them, dont help them prep for the hearing, dont give them any advice. Stay out of it. They didnt say, we cant represent you, so dont pay your fees. These union reps have told you this . Told me this. And i believe them. 100 . One of those union reps was robert robertson, a former unison senior official for south lanarkshire. Hi. Nice to see you. Thank you so much for agreeing for me to coming round. Youre welcome. In you come. Through here . Yeah, just turn right. These Women Deserve full equality, and the strange thing is, you have a union that should be based on equality thats actually sending me out to promote unequality. If a member came to you, you were to say what . You do not have a claim. We have done ourjob evaluation and all the rest of it. Its over and done with. You do not have a claim . Yep. That was what you were instructed to say . That was set in stone. You do not have a claim. If it had been a fair fight all along, then youre going to have winners and losers, but to have winners and losers because the middlemen, the union, the negotiators, were telling them. And they believed it. They pay their union money, they believe youre there to do your best for them. And we werent. And that is. One of the things that hurts me is that i was being encouraged not to do my best for these women. And its just. I find that scandalous. What ive heard sounds like the unions acting against the womens best interest. But why would they do that . Carol fox was the solicitor who worked alongside stefan cross in Many Local Authority equal pay cases across scotland. Ive seen documents where the employer noted that they had agreement from the unions not to put claims in, to allow further time for negotiations. They didnt even give the women the information that they had equal pay claims. They didnt lodge the equal pay claims for the women. And they had one hand tied behind their back, because they had a concern for the higher earning male bonus earners, who were also members of the union. So, from the outset, the unions were conflicted. She says the unions only began to put claims in for the women around 2006, after seeing the success of Companies Like action 4 equality, who were taking on council after council and winning. Thats when they became aware that that was going to happen in scotland and that they had to do something about it. So, some of the unions eventually put in claims for the women, more to protect their own interests from being sued for not taking cases than really enthusiastically on behalf of the women. Ah. I wondered how the unions gmb, unison and unite would answer to all of this. Your women members, have they lost out during this fight because of gmbs inaction . No, i dont believe so. Really . No, i dont believe thats the case at all. Well, thats not what they say. Well, they might say that, but i dont think theyre right. And at the end of the day. But there are women who are gmb members who are saying, because my claim wasnt submitted, because the gmb failed to act in my best interests, im only receiving five years. No, i dont. My colleagues receiving 12 years. No, no, thats not true. Really . And you would. Categorically, you would need to bring individual cases to us that we would look at, if youre going to make that allegation, because i would say its not right. 0k. We were given the wrong legal advice, we took the wrong cases at the start or we did not pursue the same cases as the private lawyers, or indeed one of the other unions. But our members were not left at a detriment in the end. Thats the matter of. That is a matter of fact. Did some of your women members lose out in equal pay deals . So, some Union Members and some employees generally missed out, because the system is individual. People need to consent to have somebody act for them, they need to lodge a personal claim. Were you, as a union, proactive in telling your women members, you are eligible for a claim . Or, you can puta claim in, go and puta claim in . I can say that with confidence. You were proactive . I wrote the letters. I wrote, personally, letters to every single unison member on more than one occasion, and in glasgow we did it repeatedly. And what of the allegations of negligence by former unison reps, including telling women they didnt have a claim . Well, i have no knowledge of that. Nobody has ever put those particular allegations to me before, and i would find them very hard to believe. Is unison facing legal action from some of its own members . At the moment, to my knowledge. Over what happened . There are no live cases against us. Really . To my knowledge, there are no live cases. There are people who say that they intend to, but nobody, at the moment, to my knowledge, is currently suing us. The third union involved, unite, said it didnt accept that members had been left. It said it was. Any potential claim, it added, would be. Theres another troubling allegation against all three unions, this time over what the women were told about any compensation they won. Heres an advert from the gmb, stating. That there will be no hidden charges. 100 of any future awards will go to you, to the union member. Unite, exactly the same. Unite members will keep 100 of compensation paid out. Unison said exactly the same. The small print in the glasgow settlement, however, tells a different story. It says legal fees have been deducted, and from all claimants. Did you know you were going to be paying legalfees . All no. So, the first you knew about this was when you received these offers . All yes. We were told that everything was. We didnt have to pay anything. Because what are our union fees for . Because theyve done nothing but let us down. I feel really proud of the work that i did for these women. It meant a lot to me. Although carol fox stopped practising in 2015, and so had no part in the final negotiations for the glasgow deal, shed spent the previous seven years working on the case. And im really troubled by aspects of this glasgow settlement, particularly in relation to the trade union women, who have paid fees after they were told that they would eventually be backed by their trade union. And it doesnt appear to me that theyve been told the detail of what theyve paid, and who theyve paid it to, and what its been for. Only action 4 equality, led by stefan cross, said upfront to the women it represented that legal fees would be deducted from any pay out. Now women represented by their unions are asking questions. Somebodys put a post up asking what percentage stefan cross is charging. And he responds, saying its 6. 9 across the board. And somebody says, what you mean by across the board . And he says, it means everyone pays the same all claimants. The total sum being paid out as part of the glasgow deal is a reported £5118 million. If the legal fees are sitting at around the 6. 9 mark. Yes, well, do your own maths, then. Thats around £38 million. Its not as. Its not as much as that. Were talking many, many millions of pounds. Many, many millions of pounds, yes. Yes. And those fees are being paid by who . Theyre being paid by everybody. All the claimants. Its a team effort. This was a Union Proposal. They started off. The unions proposed this deal . The Union Proposal was that we had to agree parity to start with. The cost of that is that fees had to be paid somehow. And this is the most fair, most beneficial way for everybody, that we did it on that basis. So that im clear, then the women members, the union women members, the 6. 9 that theyre paying, isntjust paying their union legalfees, its paying action 4 equalitys legal fees. Everybodys legal fees. Everybody. Everybodys legal fees. Spread across all . Everybodys fees. Are you allowed to take money off people who are not your clients . We had this discussion with the trade unions. Every single agreement includes a legal commitment to make that payment. Whats angering some women ive spoken to, though, is that the detail of this was never fully explained to them. I bet you got told numerous times that i deserved every penny that i got. And more. Yes, youre absolutely right. Thank you. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, then, why are you making such a fuss about it . Well, because. Because the women arent. I know what the promise was. They know what the promise was. And i know what the women were told. Honestly, anybody could ask these questions. Yeah. Youre stirring a pot, in my view, that has not been a pot thats upset anybody up to today. But thats. You know, that yourjob. Are your members paying legal fees as part of the settlement . To us . No. Thats not what i asked. No, i dont believe they are. Are your members paying legal fees as part of the settlement . I dont believe. My understanding is there is settlement arrangement, its subject to a confidentiality agreement. There is. Which is not meeting any of our fees. Our members are having not a penny taken off the final offer that they were made. And in terms of. Its always been very clearly explained to people that there is a complex formula which works this out, in terms of settlement, and people have got good deals. And if any of the women have an issue with their claim or their union fees or any of the rest of it, they contact us and we will look at it, and we will deal with it fairly. Why are the women paying legal fees . The women arent paying legal fees. Really . Yeah. So, there is a settlement formula, and the settlement formula is confidential. But in terms of going into the detail of it, i think. I mean, i have to be mindful of the confidential nature of the agreement. Its a secret formula. Confidentialformula. Its a confidential formula. Yeah, ok. And there are Good Business reasons and legal reasons for that. Unite told us their lawyers had been. As to how the settlements were calculated, it was, they said. This is more than half a billion pounds of public money, remember, and yet they wont tell me where its gone, how its been spent, how its been worked out, because the formula, they keep saying, is confidential. We also asked Glasgow City Council for the settlement breakdown. It too said the details were confidential. A newjob evaluation scheme is planned, with a pledge to equalise the pay of men and women by 2021. Until then, Glasgow City Council, now run by the snp, will have to continue paying millions in compensation. These are some of the words women have used to describe this. Scandalous. Mm hm. Embarrassing, patronising, unequal, insulting, a shambles. I would disagree with very little of that. Thats. Its precisely because it was scandalous and unjust and unequal that i took it on. We knew it was something that we had to do, precisely because of those things. Do you think Glasgow City Council failed the women . Erm, i think that. Yes, corporately. Glasgow city council, as a body, undoubtedly did, theres no question. Running a city isnt easy. Im not here for an easy life. This is what we committed to, and this is what well see through. When i first investigated equal pay, i could never have imagined the battle would still be dragging on 111 years later. In glasgow, its cost more than half a billion pounds, and yet its only half a story, half a bill. The final total, an estimated £1 billion. Many of those who began the fight are no longer here. Almost 200 claimants have died whilst waiting for their compensation, for their equality. Hello, low pressure is close by and there have been some very heavy downpours, but its not been raining everywhere all the time. A bit of sunshine, in fact a large part of friday brought some blue skies to west yorkshire, as photographed by oui west yorkshire, as photographed by our weather watcher. We start the weekend. As the beacon goes on its to the north sea, fewer showers interning dryer as the week goes on. Again, saturday will not be a wash out everywhere. In fact across a large part of england and wales, fewer showers than weve had recently. This area of cloud and rain will move eastwards, taking a few showers from northern ireland. Northerly winds south of that, still a south westerly as temperatures are as high as 15 celsius. Goodbye to low pressure as high as 15 celsius. Goodbye to low pressure into the north sea, it hasnt completely loosened its grip on the british isles, there will still be a bit of rain and showers to parts of eastern scotland in the eastern side of england, further south and west with variable clouds in the odd shower, most will be dry. Northerly breeze taking the cooler air further south across the uk, with temperatures in northern scotla nd with temperatures in northern scotland topping out at the single figures. But this is a ridge of High Pressure coming in for monday, it may spoil things into east anglia and east of england, a chance of outbreaks of rain here, something to play for in the position of this rain. Most places on monday are looking dry, variable cloud with sunny spells, a few fog patch is to start with may a touch of frost in the scotland, temperatures for the most pa rt the scotland, temperatures for the most part around 9 12dc. High pressure cleaning on tuesday, here isa pressure cleaning on tuesday, here is a greater chance of seeing rain come back on tuesday. Back to a south westerly, temperatures heading up south westerly, temperatures heading upa south westerly, temperatures heading up a couple of degrees. With High Pressure holding across much of the uk, most places again will have a dry day with a few missed in fog patch is to start the day. Temperatures have edged up a little bit. Starting the week with High Pressure and looking mainly dry, a few fog patch is with a touch of frost possible. Looking into wednesday, low pressure will bring the chance of rain to more of us at this stage, more of scotland and parts of northern ireland, north wales as well. South of that pressure is still relatively high, so pressure is still relatively high, so it looks to stay mainly dry. Wednesday is shaping up again, this is more of a south westerly breeze, nothing particularly chilly out there. Looking at the big picture and putting it on the jet stream, that will carry it in the area of low pressure. As it does so, we get into a cool of dust cooler air. The following weekend even into the week after that, a greater degree of uncertainty along the forecast. As mentioned in the last part, this amplified wavy pattern jet stream across the atlantic. But the feeling is this dip in thejet across the atlantic. But the feeling is this dip in the jet stream, nestled between the low pressure, will take that low pressure towards us as we go will take that low pressure towards us as we go through into the start of the next week, turning things went again for some of us. Milder as the south westerly air comes back. It may not reach all the way northwards into scotland, it may hold onto the cold air. Things are changeable, and there are some drier daysin changeable, and there are some drier days in this forecast for a change. Better outcome for the uk than his brexit deal on the eve of a crucial commons vote. With no majority at westminster, the Prime Minister is having to persuade, cajole, and plead with the numbers tonight too close to call. Speaking to the bbc, borisjohnson urged mps to reject more division and delay. What matters is mps coming together across the house tomorrow, to get this thing done. But a move by a senior backbencher could mean tomorrows votes result in further delay. Also tonight turmoil in Barcelona Police fire rubber bullets and use tear gas, at protesters angry at the jailing of catalan