No-win no-fee lawyers 'exploited' women workers

As measures to allow councils to borrow from the Treasury for equal pay settlements was extended to Scotland, one MSP has branded no-win no-fee lawyers as having "exploited these (low paid) women just as much as the councils or anybody else".

According to the Herald newspaper, Tricia Marwick attacked “no-win, no-fee” lawyers, in particular the Newcastle-based Stefan Cross firm. “I have found the actions of the no-win, no fee lawyers quite despicable,” she said. “They have exploited these women just as much as the councils or anybody else.”

In the same debate Labour MSP Duncan McNeil, convener of the Local Government Committee, said many of the unresolved cases affected low-paid female workers. He said the process had become “litigious” and called on the Scottish Government to intervene with councils, unions and lawyers, said the Herald.

“If it’s been frustrating for us, just imagine what it’s been like for those workers who haven’t been properly compensated. We must ask, is it because they are low-paid women workers?”

Sarah Boyack, Labour MSP for Edinburgh Central, said local authorities were compounding the problem with plans to allow private firms to run home-care ­services. “Women are predominantly the vulnerable clients and they are predominantly the hard-working care staff.”
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/councils-can-borrow-treasury-cash-to-meet-equal-pay-claims-1.923464
See also http://unisonactive.blogspot.com/2009/10/cuts-in-home-carers-pay-will-end-up-as.html