THE row between the Town Hall unions and Warrington Borough Council has flared again with union bosses slamming Labour for its “crude and naïve tactics.”
Officials of the unions Unison and GMB say talks on council savings are in jeopardy because the Labour administration doesn’t seem to understand the word “negotiate”.
The row started last week when the unions issued a joint statement slamming the new Labour administration on the borough council for breaking election promises.
Labour deputy leader Mike Hannon, who is leading the negotiations for the council side, responded by saying he was surprised by the unions’ comments and that his door was always open for further talks.
In a new joint statement, the unions say: “Unison and GMB were surprised at the response from the deputy deader who confirmed that ‘only around £2m has been earmarked to come from workforce efficiencies.’
“It is unfortunate but necessary to point out that this was the cause of our anger and disappointment.
“Unison and GMB entered into the informal discussions on council savings in good faith and we genuinely believed we were making progress, albeit slowly. But these talks are being put in jeopardy by the crude and naïve tactics of the Labour administration who don’t seem to understand the word negotiate.
“Unison and GMB’s agenda included at least two key proposals which were to restructure and reduce the Strategic Management Board (SMB) which in turn would reduce the Executive Board Members and the attached member’s allowances, and secondly a public consultation on fortnightly refuse collection. If both these proposals were implemented they would equate to approximately £1.3m year-on- year savings.
“The Labour administration must now take its responsibilities seriously. Let’s not forget that these talks are about real people and hard-working front line individuals with voting rights and who contribute significantly to the local economy.
“The deputy leader quotes ‘My door is always open’. Open doors are a two-way street but at no point have the Trade Unions experienced the Labour administration’s willingness to approach our door since gaining control of the council.
“Unison and GMB insist that any proposals should be based on evidence and not political ideology.
“We now await the executive board’ s decision on what formal proposals will be put forward to meet the required £2m workforce savings. Rest assured that if the proposals include terms and conditions then we will be challenging robustly and will be seeking our members views on what course of action should be taken.”
THE row between the Town Hall unions and Warrington Borough Council has
flared again with union bosses slamming Labour for its "crude and naïve
tactics."
Unions attack Labour council again
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
8 Comments
Now I’m a union man
Amazed at what I am
I say what I think, that the Council stinks
Yes I’m a union man
When we meet in the local hall
I’ll be voting with them all
With a hell of a shout, it’s “Out brothers, out!”
And the rise of the Council’s fall
Oh, you don’t get me, I’m part of the union
You don’t get me, I’m part of the union
You don’t get me, I’m part of the union
Until the day I die
Until the day I die
The union has made me wise
To the lies of the company spies
And I don’t get fooled by the Labour rules
’cause I always read between the lines
And I always get my way
If I strike for higher pay
When I show my card to the Scotland Yard
And this is what I say:
Oh, oh, you don’t get me, I’m part of the union
You don’t get me, I’m part of the union
You don’t get me, I’m part of the union
Until the day I die
Until the day I die
Before the union did appear
My life was half as clear
Now I’ve got the power to the working hour
And every other day of the year
So though I’m a working man
I can ruin the Council’s plan
And though I’m not hard, the sight of my card
Makes me some kind of superman
Oh, oh, oh, you don’t get me, I’m part of the union
You don’t get me, I’m part of the union
You don’t get me, I’m part of the union
Until the day I die
Until the day I die
And for those who want to sing along http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdOCWUgwiWs
Why don’nt the unions attack the immoral pay increases to the chief exec and the other top bosses instead of our political leaders. the same bosses who were let to do what they wanted by the Libdem/ conservative administration. they are the cause of the problem. makes you think who’s in who’s pocket
I think councillors need the stick as well, whatever their political persuasion. They are the ones voted to represent the electorate in this town, not the money grubbing senior executives. Has a single councillor spoken out about the sheer breathtaking arrogance of people who think it is acceptable to take huge pay rises while cutting front line services, laying people off then appealing for volunteers to run council services. A single one of them?
Yes grey man actually 2 councillors did speak out agaainst these money grubbing executives mike hannon and terryo'neil
Good. At least those two have a spine.
I am sure that as Leader and Deputy they would be speaking for all of the Labour Councillors, to be fair!
Even if they are speaking on behalf of them all, they’ve taken no action. Based on reports it would seem they asked the Chief Exec to turn down the pay rise and nothing more. The Lib Dem coalition agreed to the increases at a time they were laying people off and cutting services and the new Labour administration is doing nothing about it, even if that would mean doing nothing more than kicking off publicly. Councillors cannot expect to get away with it. I just wish we had an alternative to the choice of parties we do.