1,000 Shropshire Council staff agree to pay cut

More than 1,000 employees at Shropshire Council have agreed to take a pay cut and accept new terms and conditions, officials said today.

The number, out of a total of 6,500, have so far voluntarily accepted the plans put forward by chief executive Kim Ryley.

Union leaders today claimed the response would be "massively disappointing" for the authority – but council chiefs said staff still had six weeks to reply to the letters.

Unison is preparing to issue ballot papers this week calling for possible strike action over the controversial policy.

Alan James, branch secretary for Shropshire Unison, today claimed the number of responses had left council officials "embarrassed."

The council sent out letters to staff last month which explained 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.

Unison, which represents about 40 per cent of the workforce, has instructed its members not to reply to a letter sent out by Mr Ryley calling for staff to accept the pay cut.

Council chiefs say they need to make £76 million of savings and that its wage-cut proposals would spare it having to make up to 500 redundancies.

Mr James said: "To be honest we are really pleased that it's only so few that have responded to the council's letter. It's massively disappointing for the authority.

"The letter was designed to be intimidating but it hasn't worked.

"We also know that quite a substantial number of people who responded in the first week have since had time to reflect on it and have asked for their letters back."

Jackie Kelly, corporate head of organisational development at Shropshire Council, today said: "Staff still have six weeks to reply to the letters issued – more than a thousand staff have already replied, and we expect plenty more to do so throughout September when the summer holidays are over.

"Although there was a deadline of August 31 for staff to voluntarily accept the new terms and conditions, we will still accept all replies during September."