Union unveils alternative Shropshire Council budget
Tuesday 12th July 2011, 9:30PM BST.
Union officials today took the wraps off an alternative budget they say would prevent Shropshire Council from sacking 6,500 members of its staff and rehiring them on less pay.
Unison said its budget, which would see a 1.5 per cent council tax increase for taxpayers instead of the freeze by Shropshire Council, would save the authority millions of pounds.
The authority has sent letters to 6,500 staff saying they will be dismissed on September 30 but rehired the next day if they agree to a 5.4 per cent pay cut.
The authority has said it needs to make £76 million of savings and says its wage-cut plan means it will not have to cut up to 500 jobs.
Today Unison said its alternative budget included suggesting council tax be “increased by just 1.5 per cent per annum” which it says would yield “an extra £5.5 million in 2013/14”.
The union also claimed council tax income grew by almost £1.3m this year.
The union claims the council thought it was going to get £1m from the New Homes Bonus but it got nearly £1.8m, adding “this and the extra money it will get from 2012, does not appear to be budgeted for”.
Dave Prentis, Unison’s general secretary, said: “The council is letting hard-working council staff and the people who rely on vital local services take a hit when there is a viable alternative.
“Plans to force staff to accept another huge cut, or lose their jobs, will see many families struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads.”
l Fear – See Page 5
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A 1.5% rise in council tax is not acceptable. There are those among us who already struggle with council tax payments and to be expected to fund those already paid higher than the private sector is not on.
Many of us especially pensioners, are paying more than one week in four of our state pensions in council tax. What for? To pay the inflated salaries and pensions for an overstaffed public sector.
Many of those taking redundancy are receiving huge payouts, far in excess of the statutory redundancy money.
I for one am not prepared to increase my already huge contribution to these salaries.
Perhaps we should all be thinking along the lines of these greedy unions and instigate a council tax payment strike
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Well put Christine, As a pensioner I feel the same.
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Christine,
Inflated pensions? With the average public pension just £7,000 per annum that simply doesn’t stand up to even the smallest level of scrutiny.
Already paid higher than the private sector? When you make like-for-like comparisons based upon levels of qualification etc. to do jobs, that’s not the case. After decades of lower pay in the public sector, and a push by many employers to force pay downwards using the recession as an excuse, the gap has narrowed, but you’re well into Daily Mail territory if you believe that the public sector is doing so much better.
Redundancy – My understanding is that under the current ‘take a pay cut or we’ll sack you’ threat from Shropshire council, there is no redundancy on offer to those who refuse to sign up to the new Ts and Cs under duress. Hopefully we’ll see a test case at a tribunal which will prove the illegality of this.
Overstaffing – any figures to support that view please? Or did you once again just read it in the Daily Mail?
As for council tax increases – inflation is on the up. Councils have many costs – presumably in some they’ll have been subject to the greed of British Gas in increasing their costs by 18% for example – I note you don’t condemn that. How can they simply absorb such costs?
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Oh how I love a fairy story to go to bed with
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Mr Prentiss,
Please do not turn the fight to protect terms and conditions into an attack on the government and the economy. Staff know full well that the Council could have altered things to avoid the dismissal of staff on the current budget without an increase in Council tax. The Council has set a budget in such a way as to provoke this fight and they will point to an increase in Council tax as left wing top down control.
This fight is about getting the Council to treat it’s staff in a fair manner and with respect not to push Council Tax increases.
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Today Unison said its alternative budget included suggesting council tax be “increased by just 1.5 per cent per annum” which it says would yield “an extra £5.5 million in 2013/14”.
The union claims the council thought it was going to get £1m from the New Homes Bonus but it got nearly £1.8m, adding “this and the extra money it will get from 2012, does not appear to be budgeted for”.
Ah yes – here we go, the first suggestion is to start to increase Council Tax “just a little bit” – it’s just so easy isn’t it – the answer to all the problems – just take more and more and more from the public. How about another 1.5% to keep buses running with a couple of passengers? Another 1.5% to keep all the street lights burning and so on and so on until we are back to massive tax hikes every year.
The second is to spend money which was generated by housing on staff – not putting it back into the areas that generated it, or even heaven forbid, on encouraging additional housing, affordable housing for those who need it.
The last suggestion was that we didn’t need to put money into reserves either – just cross your fingers and hope that we don’t have a severe winter – or if we do, that people will understand if we run out of salt and grit and the roads grind to a halt. Hope that we don’t have another and more severe gas explosion, or the underpinned gasworks bridge in Oswestry stays up for another few years.
If you are in a balloon that’s going down you have to lighten the load – not rearrange the items in the basket to make it look better.
And yes I know what its like to be told that you have to sign up to a new contract on reduced salary and changed terms and conditions or you don’t have a job becuase you will have dismissed yourself. I have at least two of those T shirts!
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With inflation over 4% a modest 1.5% increase in council tax rise is still a cut in real terms.
Whether or not they increase council tax it is clear there are changes they could make to avoid these additional cuts, but they are choosing not to. If they had the will to avoid them they would. Sadly it seems they place no value on the loyalty of their staff.
Attacking unison may be good as a short term vote winner but how is destroying the traditionally good industrial relations at the council going to affect the quality of services they provide.
Given the scale of the challenges the council faces surely it would be more productive for them to harness the skills and resourcefulness of existing staff rather than alienate them at every opportunity.
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And so sayeth the shop steward.
Why should we pay more? Wage rises arent all at inflation in the private sector, you know.
What you are effectively saying here is everyone in the private sector should take a pay cut, (by increasing taxes by more than wages), so you dont have to – and you wonder why there is such venom in these forums when people like you are either too stupid to understand our position or are so beligerent that you couldnt give a damn because you know we cant take our council tax to another authority and stuff your militant, work shy, bottomless money pit of a union.
If you were in the private sector believe me your employer would be bankrupt and you would be out of a job with no prospects because most employers in the private sector wont take on ex public sector employees who dont seem to understand that taking 3 months off every other year is unacceptable.
Bring on your union spite and conflict because you will not win. We need to stop this monster right here and right now.
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Thanks Andy for such an articulate and considered response.
You have made a few assumptions there. You seem to presume that I am either a shop steward or a member of unison. I’m sorry to disappoint you but I am neither.
You also suggest that perhaps I am “too Stupid” to understand your position. Believe it or not it is possible to understand a point of view you don’t agree with. – might be worth trying sometime.
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The Financial Services Industry within the Private Sector WAS bankrupt.
The facts are the debt amounted by the former has been shifted onto the Public Sector.
So please do not lecture ANYONE on morality, when those who caused this mess remain unaffected and the normal bloke in the Street, has his life turned upside down through no fault of his own.
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Staff at Shropshire Council have a maximum leave entitlement of 31 days. Most staff only have 27 days. Where does the three months off nonsense come from?
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Thank you unison but no thanks . I pay a reasonable amount in council tax and do not wish it to go up by even 1.5%.I vote cuts.
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Reasonable? Over a thousand pounds?
Hardly reasonable…
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Band d and living in a village granted with limited amenities ,however I am happy with the council tax charge although I much preferred the poll tax and believe the majority of people on reflection would have been better off on that.
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Tax and spend. That’s all the left can think of. Tax and tax and tax…
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The left always go back to the same pathetic ideology! We pay enough in council tax so please keep your Marxist plans in the plush offices of unison and off our streets.
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Gotta love the unions!
its ok, let them pay more tax!
You aint winning this war Unison, so best just accept it because the government would much rather sack you than face a tax payers strike!
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Tax payers’ strike – what are you, some commie, lefty, workshy , militant, stalinist troublemaker?
You’re not a teacher are you?
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Class! :)
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Can you read and write?
Can you add up?
Thank a teacher.
Your arrogance is breathtaking, Rob. You’re obviously out for a cheap round of applause from some of the other unpleasant opinion formers on here, and it seems like you’ve got one from Andy.
And no, I’m not a teacher but I’m happy to defend them in this context, and I’m also confident that the majority of the nasty anti public service snipers who post to this site wouldn’t last twenty seconds in a classrooom. It’s my opinion that it is remarks like yours which make teachers’ jobs a great deal more difficult by helping to erode the respect that they deserve.
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Ask the poor council tax payers what we think of your suggestions, for a mere 1.5% increase…it may just burst your bubble and let down your inflated egos.
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So in order to keep all these UNISON members in employment i have to pay more council tax.
Subsidising their pensions AND salaries, no thanks..
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You’ll be relieved to know that the enire financial burden wouldn’t necessarily fall on your shoulders, Spencer. UNISON members are council tax payers, too, and don’t forget that they spend their money in the county’s shops, and with Shropshire’s non-retail private businesses too. Wage cuts mean less disposable income, which means a cutting back on spending, which is likely to lead to a reduced income for many local businesses. Will that affect you, perhaps?
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I reckon a 1.5% increase in council tax will prove to be pretty small beer when we’ve had all our services privatised and run by for-profit organisations charging us through the nose.
The ‘poor council tax payers’ stance will be soon forgotten when the Tories (the polictical wing of business) are lining their pockets via privatised services.
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Second time in a couple of days that I’ve found myself agreeing with you, Arthur. Good point well made.
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