Ballot papers sent to Shropshire Council staff
Tuesday 26th July 2011, 4:00PM BST.
Union chiefs today said they should know by the end of the week whether there is an appetite for strike action in a bitter row with Shropshire Council over a pay cut.
The authority sent out letters to about 6,500 staff earlier this month which said they would be dismissed on September 30 – but re-hired the next day if they agreed to a 5.4 per cent pay cut and new terms and conditions.
Council leaders said they needed to make £76 million of savings and the wage-cut proposals would spare them having to make up to 500 redundancies.
Alan James, branch secretary for Shropshire Unison, which represents about 40 per cent of the workforce, said members were unhappy at the way they are being treated.
Papers for an indicative ballot have been sent out, with the results expected by Friday or Saturday, he said today.
Mr James said if there was a positive response from members a full ballot would follow.
But a letter sent by council chief executive Kim Ryley to Mr James claims the authority is seeking legal advice.
The letter says Mr Riley has “serious concerns” about the legitimacy of the ballot paper, claiming it contains an “inaccurate and misleading” statement concerning the salaries of senior management at the council.
The letter says: “I am taking legal advice on what action the council should take to formally challenge the ballot process, in the absence of immediate assurances from you that the the concerns I have raised have been dealt with properly.”
Mr James today said: “Once we have got the result we will have a very clear idea of members’ feelings as to whether to go ahead with a ballot for strike action.
“The indicative ballot sent out to every member asks whether they are prepared to take part in industrial action and whether they are prepared to go ahead with strike action.
“We need to have a high turnout and a high percentage of people need to turn out in our favour.”
UK News
Most Commented
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
- The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff doesn't raise a smile
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
It is quite sad to think that a man who earns 171 thousand pounds a year is seeking to see if the ballot is legitimate he had a 18 thousand pound rise when he came here caroline downs used to earn 162 thousand but he got a rise of 18 thousand so even with the 5% cut he is still 9 thousand pounds better off 5.4% cuts will mean alot to the workers his 5% cut is pie in the sky really.
Report abuse
Too right red, he will have to reduce his number of golf or country club memberships.
Report abuse
Kim Riley is one of the highest paid Chief Execs in the country who also, as we have learned recently, has a very nice office. A snip at £96k. He is completely out of touch with average earners and has been brought in to bully and muscle through these changes to terms and conditions. I urge union members to stick together on this issue as divided you will fall. It won’t be the last cut coming your way if you lose. The 5.4% cut will not save jobs in the long run.
Report abuse
“Vive la Shropshire Council Workers!!!”
Report abuse
“Inaccurate and misleading”? That’s a term Mr Riley has lifted from the objections to the proposal to close Wakeman – pot and kettle Kim.
Report abuse
Let’s hope the reds do go on strike, refuse to sign the new contracts and end up on the dole queue…
Then we may have staff that WE pay for who are more concerned in doing a secure job well and providing us with value for money than in plotting their hopeless revenge action against us, their paymasters.
Report abuse
Do you have any idea how childish you sound? So every public sector worker is a member of the Communist party? You appear to be living in 1950s America. What do you read and who do you listen to to get such a weird take on life? The vast majority of council staff couldn’t give a stuff about politics, they just don’t want their employer to move the goal posts without consulting with them first.
Report abuse
Standard union reply #1:
“you’re childish”
Do you have any idea how ignorant you sound? Someone doesn’t agree with you so resort to standard insults – without even applying the effort to at least try and make the insult relevant.
Pathetic.
And let us not forget the extraordinary supplanting of words you use – dont go putting words in my mouth I am a free thinking individual – unlike the union members about to be led down to the dole queue by their untouchable union reps.
I am a tax payer. I, and the rest of us tax payers, pay for these services through a compulsory tax: we cant throw our rattles out of the pram when we dont get our own way. If the council were a private enterprise and ran out of money everyone would be out of work. And dont go saying “well the council employees also pay council tax” I would quite happily give £170 per month to the council knowing I was in line to get twenty times that back.
Just because the council cannot “go bankrupt” the unions seem to think that there is a bottomless pit of money – as evidenced by their laughable “alternative budget” in which everyone has to pay more for the same service. Let’s face it the money has run out and you can’t have what you want – like the rest of the world has had to accept.
If the union sheep want to refuse to sign then they will, as has been made perfectly clear to them, be signing on. This should be seen as a bonus to those of us who pay our taxes and then have services we have paid for not provided because the unions have called the workers out.
Report abuse
If the cap fits Andy. Although, suggesting that every public sector worker who strikes is a “red” and at odds with the rest of us hard working private sector tax payers (let me guess, we’re “blue”?) is actually more sad than childish.
Report abuse
The vote is for industrial action, not just a strike. I suspect the action will be similar to that currently taking place in Southampton. An overtime ban, working fixed hours, a withdrawal of goodwill, working strictly to current contracts, occasional one day strikes and rolling selective action taking certain parts of the council out on strike e.g. revenues, waste management, highways etc. I also expect legal action by the union in relation to breach of due process by the authority.
It is going to be a tough late Summer and Autumn. Oh, and many of the staff involved will have never taken industrial action before.
Andy, you spend so much time on these forums you either don’t work or are a Councillor!
Report abuse
all striking will do is lose a days pay, better to work to rule, if all staff only worked there hours that would be millions of hrs of free voluntary overtime lost for the council, equally a mass resignation of voluntary office fire warders and first aiders could close the offices overnight, equally refusing to bring your car to work and taking 2 hours to cycle to a meeting in Ludlow or spending all day on public transport and sending them the bill, refusing to answer calls at home out of hours, refusing to take phone calls during your lunch break, refusing to attend all LJC and evening meetings etc, its a much more effective way to make the council aware
Report abuse
AG. You sound just like the union reps. in the 1960′s that nearly bankrupted this country.
Report abuse
John,
You have previously revealed that you worked for BT – either post privatisation or perhaps before as well. You reveled that you benefitted from a sale of employee-purchased shares, and, I assume, you are benefitting from a BT pension to some extent.
Now, given that the funding for that pension will have come to some extent from public monies handed over during Thatcher’s rush to privatise, by way of a pension fund, are you not being a tiny bit hypocritical in claiming that we cannot afford decent working conditions and pensions for current public sector staff, when you have benefitted, at least indirectly, from the public money that was put into a privatised ex-puvblic service?
Bear in mind without the influence of trade unions, we wouldn’t have a minimum wage, we’d still have men having to queue up each morning for casual work rather than having proper employment contracts and we wouldn’t have some of the very necessary health and safety reforms that have massively reduced deaths and industrial injuries in the workplace.
I find it interesting that we see huge increases in privatised utility charges, yet there is no clamour for these companies to freeze their charges to the consumer, and take it out of their employees’ salaries instead. – but that is exactly what ‘I’m all right Jack’ people like you seem to want councils to do.
The rate of inflation is currently around 4% and rising. To counter that, the private sector simply put up prices, and the government puts up taxes for the poor whilst giving massive tax breaks to the wealthy.
In such circumstances is it not likely that councils too might need a modest (below inflation) increase to maintain vital services?
Report abuse
john jones you sound just like the banksers from the noughties who DID bankrupt this country!
Report abuse
guardian, Sorry can you re write it in English.
Report abuse
Guardian you have to teach John in simplistic terms.
Report abuse
Will teachers come back from abroad or second homes or being on holiday to support the strikers?
Report abuse
Unlikely as most teachers are employed directly by the School (although the recruitment process is usually administered by the Council). As they are not directly involved in the action, it could be classed as secondary action which is illegal.
Report abuse
good on them
you have to strike for your rights in this day and age its the only way to stop employers walking all over you if you look at every sector with strong unions public, steel, telephones, manufacturing etc, they have better pay that the sectors who have no unions, ie restaurants, retail, agriculture etc etc
Report abuse
guardian, What a load of rubbish, are you a relation of “Red Robbo” of British Leyland fame? Strong unions you say, well where are they? They are dinosaurs that have no place in modern society. Keep paying your union dues brothers to fund their £100,000 plus per year wages.
Report abuse
you cannot blame staff for striking with people like kym ryley being delibrately provocative its disgusting the way they treat human beings with families, however much you might hate public sector workers you have to remember their wives and children are not tax collectors or parking wardens or coppers and even those people are human beings who just want to work for a living to pay the mortgage and feed their families
Report abuse
let them eat cake
Report abuse