A SENIOR Labour official has apologised to Glasgow's ripped off equal pay women in a first during the 10-year fight.

Councillor Aileen McKenzie, the Glasgow Labour Group Women’s Officer, described her apology to underpaid city council women as "significant".

She admitted the council had made mistakes, in part due to failing to have enough women in positions of authority.

Ms McKenzie said: “We got a lot of things wrong for a particular group of women - we let them down, we should have done more.

“Workplace Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR) did make things fairer for some employees but it let down a particular group of women and we should have done more for them."

The cost of the equal pay catastrophe could cost taxpayers up to £500 million, despite the Labour-run Glasgow City Council being well warned that its controversial WPBR discriminated against female employees.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission - which had been investigating the council's pay policy since 2009 - had made it clear the system had problems.

Ms McKenzie added: "What we did right was recognise that there was an issue with equal pay and began to take steps to try to address it and that worked for most employees.

"But one group has been left behind. That is in part because we didn't have enough female representation, not enough women in deliberations, not enough women in political positions and not enough in senior roles."

A majority of the women making equal pay claims work for Cordia and Ms McKenzie, who is the first senior Labour official to publicly apologise, said a review of how they work is also vital.

She said: "I don't think what we did wrong can be made up to them but there is no point in me saying sorry without practical action

"Women were made to feel undervalued. We can never give them back the time they have had to spend fighting this.

"We need a review of Cordia home care workers shift patterns for a start."

Stefan Cross QC of Action 4 Equality Scotland, the organisation fighting for equal pay for council workers, said money would be more appreciated than an apology.

He said: "Apologies are nice but they don’t get the women a penny of the money they deserve. Apologies don’t pay the rent.

"It was in any event very bland and unspecified. “We could have done better”. No admission of what they did wrong.

"At the moment the SNP administration and their officers are still defending the current - Labour's - pay structure and say it's legally justified and they will continue to defend it in tribunal.

"They’ve failed to meet many of their promises to us and have conceded not a single issue or put forward any proposals

"Apologies are nice but action and payment would be better."

A spokeswoman for the GMB Union, which is representing some of the women involved, said: "We welcome this apology to our members and the obligation now falls to all elected representatives to ensure claimants receive a full and fair settlement and that, moving forward women never again face the same inequality under Glasgow City Council."

A spokesman for the council leader's office said: "This is another welcome step in rectifying the historic wrongs which far too many of our female staff endured for too long and Cllr McKenzie is to be applauded for her comments.

The City Government inherited a situation not of our making but we have been encouraged by the cross-party backing to end a decade of litigation and work towards introducing a new pay and grading system.

It is my hope that that collective spirit can continue as we confront the difficult decisions necessary to deliver a just settlement for our staff.

The failure of successive leaders to grasp this matter has had massive financial and reputational consequences for the city council. We would urge Cllr McKenzie’s Labour colleagues on the city council, Holyrood and Westminster, to demonstrate the same self-awareness and humility and help draw the line under this sorry saga."