A haunting £60m painting of Christ should be sold to meet Glasgow’s equal pay bills, according to a top trade unionist.
Gary Smith of the GMB said council bosses should be prepared to flog the Salvador Dali masterpiece and give the cash to women denied a fair wage.
He blasted: “There is no way this discrimination is going to be paid for off the back of hard-pressed workers in a cost of living crisis.”
An equal pay deal worth around £500m was agreed by Glasgow city council in 2019 for thousands of predominantly female workers.
But a new pay grading scheme has still not been introduced and unions say discrimination remains in place.
The GMB believes the outstanding bill will be massive and the union’s members have been balloted for strike action.
Smith says lucrative city assets should be on the table when considering how to pay for any future settlement.
Dali’s ‘Christ of Saint John of the Cross’ is a striking depiction of the Crucifixion by the late Spanish artist.
Purchased by art chiefs for less than £10,000 in 1952, it is the star attraction at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery.
It is now reportedly valued at over £60m - enough to cover a large chunk of the bill the GMB claims will have to be paid.
Smith, general secretary of the GMB, said: “The council’s residual equal pay liability is getting bigger by the day and the final bill will probably run into the hundreds of millions once again.
“That’s why the council’s unelected officials have stalled the settlement process, made no clear offer to the claimant groups, and provided no definitive timescale on the replacement of the discriminatory pay and grading system – yet they wonder why 14,000 workers are balloting for strike action?
“Time and again we’ve urged the council leadership to pick up the phone to government and ask for help to ease the pressure on the city’s finances and to help resolve Glasgow’s equal pay crisis, but it’s fallen on deaf ears.
“If the council really thinks it can fix this alone then it had better start making plans to flog the Dali, because there is no way this discrimination is going to be paid for off the back of hard-pressed workers in a cost-of-living crisis.”
It is not the first time the Dali painting has been suggested as a cash cow for the city.
Arts impresario Richard Demarco suggested in 2001 it could be sold to pay the council’s debts.
He said at the time: “They should wait until the painting is worth £100million and sell it to save the city of Glasgow from bankruptcy because at the moment they can’t afford to run its galleries.”
However, any sale would be met with fierce resistance as the painting brings tourists to Glasgow.
The Duke and The Duchess of Rothesay stopped to contemplate the celebrated work during a trip to Kelvingrove last year.
Martha Wardrop, a Scottish Green councillor in Glasgow, said: “The process of settling Labour’s unequal pay legacy must remain a priority whoever forms Glasgow’s administration after May’s elections.
“Green councillors will work for a fast and fair settlement, but we will not resort to flogging off the city’s cultural assets to do that. We’ll keep pressing for the funding and powers councils need to invest in local services and pay workers well.”
A council spokesman said: “We’re negotiating with trade unions and others representing claimants. We will only know the cost of settling claims once we have a deal – and that will determine any financial strategy.”
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