A MOTHER and daughter working side by side and standing on the picket line side by side.

Both know they have been underpaid for the work they have dedicated a career to, and both know they are entitled for compensation in light of this injustice.

They receive their equal pay offers... but are they fair?

There's no way of comparing because, to receive their pay out, they have signed a confidentiality agreement.

But there's definitely a disparity - because one woman knows she will be receiving 12 years worth of back pay while the other is receiving five years.

Amid the delight from Glasgow's equal pay women along with the satisfaction of the council's new administration and the relief from unions, it was easy to think that resolving the city's equal pay scandal was a job done.

Many thousands of women were absolutely delighted to receive a bumper pay offer but many others have been left feeling disillusioned with the process, let down and still in the dark.

In law, claimants are only entitled to five years of back pay but there is no limit on the time between when the claim is lodged and when it is resolved. So, if you lodge a claim in 2019 and it is resolved in 2024, you would receive 10 years in total.

Women who lodged their equal pay claim at the beginning of the process are entitled to 12 years of back pay. Others who joined the equal pay fight in the second round, from 2017 onwards, are only entitled to five.

It has caused, according to women I have spoken to and to women who chose to go on the record last night in a BBC Disclosure documentary to speak out about it, a real and deep sense of betrayal among the five year women.

There are women working side by side who fall into different equal pay camps. They might have worked for the council for similar lengths of time, they are doing the same job, but because of when they lodged their claim, their compensation payouts are vastly different.

The women don't blame each other for this - a hallmark of Glasgow's equal pay campaign has been solidarity - but they do have a strong sense of blame.

There is nothing Glasgow City Council, private claims company Action 4 Equality Scotland, or the unions could do about this during the settlement process - it's the law.

But what could they have done before?

Women are furious because they say the unions did not let them know around 2008 when the equal pay dispute first began that they were entitled to claim.

Instead of a coordinated effort to do the best for their women members and let them know they were entitled to challenge their pay, Glasgow's equal pay story spread through word of mouth from workers using private lawyers.

As has been well publicised, the unions began to come on board when they saw the success of equal pay claims elsewhere. As has also been well publicised, and as they admit to, the unions let their women members down.

They prioritised their male workforce to the severe detriment of the women.

And the women who did not know they could make equal pay claims until recently are still furious.

While Stefan Cross, the lawyer leading Action 4 Equality, is much praised by many of his clients, others feel they have been led into paying the firm despite it not representing them. As part of the settlement, as detailed in the Disclosure documentary, all claimants pay 6.9 per cent in legal fees, which go to Action 4 Equality.

Women claim they did not know about this payment. Parties involved in settling the claim say it was made clear.

The only thing that is clear is that some women still feel let down and are saying very different things to the unions.

Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, has been clear that she wanted the equal pay dispute to be settled and has been critical of the previous Labour administration for allowing the issue to drag on as long as it did do.

She's in a fortunate position - able to criticise the circumstances that allowed the council's women workers to be undervalued while also coming to the rescue and resolving the issue.

With the unions publicly pledging they have considered past errors and reformed, it was an environment to the SNP administration coming to the rescue.

But has the council let out a sigh of relief too soon?

What we know about Glasgow's equal pay claimants is that they are vocal, determined and committed. They might be told not to ask questions or ask for clarification but they're not going to listen to that.

Especially not when they have been on the receiving end of that message for more than a decade. After everything Glasgow's women workers have been through, expecting them not to clarify their own pay deals seems a highly unwise expectation.

There is a suggestion, if a lawyer would take on the case, the five year claimants could sue the unions or even mount a legal challenge to the existing legislation mandating the five year cap on back pay.

The certainty, though, is that we will be hearing more from them until all women truly feel justice has been done.