SNP supporters and politicians have responded to the Glasgow City Council equal pay strike by seeking to change the focus onto others, rather than pressing the council to end this conflict with their own workforce.

This has included repeating claims that Scottish Labour leader had been an adviser on aspects of the Glasgow City Council equal pay issue in 2006.

Hang on. The current Scottish Labour Leader, @LabourRichard, advised his union to accept a deal with the then Labour run council that was discriminatory against women? https://t.co/RVqEevvcEp — Stewart McDonald MP (@StewartMcDonald) October 24, 2018

Scottish Labour sources have quickly rebutted this false claim.

They told us: “At the time in question Richard Leonard was a GMB organiser representing workers predominantly in the private sector, not at Glasgow City Council. He had no involvement whatsoever at any point in local authority Job Evaluation Schemes or discriminatory deals. He won equal pay claims for women workers in distilleries and dockyards, in factories and power stations across Scotland over two decades, and is happy to stand on his record of delivery on equal pay. Furthermore, Richard Leonard was never a research officer at the GMB. This merely another attempt to distract from the central issue of the strike over equal pay at Glasgow City Council – the council must end its intransigence, halt its anti-trade union actions and rhetoric, and resolve the equal pay dispute.”

It’s time to end the spin and focus on the real issue - women workers on strike for equal pay.