WOMEN fighting equal pay claims against Glasgow City Council have insisted that industrial action is essential to demonstrate their worth and agree the settlement they are due.

Glasgow City Council home care workers, who will make up the majority of women set to strike over outstanding equal pay claims on Tuesday, October 23, and Wednesday, October 24, said claims made earlier this week by council leader Susan Aitken that they had been “misled” by their union were inaccurate and “disappointing”.

Some 99% of women supported by Unison, and 98% by the GMB voted in favour of strike action following 10 months of meetings aiming to settle the long-running equal pay dispute, estimated to be worth up to £500 million.

Shona Thomson, a home care worker for Glasgow City Council, said the women had now “found their voices” and would not back down.

“There is no longer a fear that we will lose our jobs by speaking out,” she said, claiming the turning point came when the Supreme Court appeal went in the women’s favour in January.

“We won this argument in court. Women should be treated equally and we have every right to say so.”

She claimed discussion at union meetings this year became increasingly heated.

“The word ‘strike’ came up and then someone else said it and in the end we went to our union and demanded that they tell us how we should go about it.”

The decision, she insisted, had not come lightly but was necessary in order that their worth was acknowledged. Many of the women earn minimum wage despite their critical roles caring for the most vulnerable in the city. Of Aitken’s claims they had been misled she added: “We were so disappointed. It was as if we didn’t have minds of our own. Well, we most certainly do.”

Denise Phillips, who started working as a home help 28 years ago and who is now a home carer juggling multiple duties, added: “Glasgow City Council needs to have a wake-up call. They have to pay us what we are due. It’s our money and they have robbed us of it. We have to make them see how much we do.”

It is estimated that 50,000 nursery, primary and additional support need pupils will be off due to closures and the council is writing to about 6000 care clients to inform them that its service will be either reduced or unavailable. Life and limb cover will be in place.

Stefan Cross QC, of Action 4 Equality, which is representing 8000 women, said: “The strike is driven by the women themselves. They obviously believe it is the only way to get the council to treat them seriously and actually negotiate, as they promised.”

Council officials have halted negotiations until strike action is off the table, but insisted Cross could continue alone. He rejected this, stressing that all three organisations representing the women had agreed throughout to act as one.

Peter Welsh, GMB’s head of campaigns, said: “The strike is being driven by working-class women who are fighting to be valued in society. In a time when all eyes are on gender equality in the boardroom, Glasgow women are reminding everyone that equality starts at the bottom of the pay scale.”

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: “This dispute is unnecessary. Everything union leaders have asked for is either already in place, has been agreed or can be delivered through the negotiations. That is what we should be doing.”