Fury at the town hall over staff pay cuts

Local authority staff who face losing thousands of pounds booed and jeered as councillors spoke during last Wednesday’s meeting of the full council.

Workers carried posters showing their salary reductions and shouts of “it’s immoral” and “you’re lying to us” came from the public gallery as members debated the pay review.

As employees interrupted the meeting to vent their fury, the Mayor of Bury, Councillor Peter Ashworth, threatened to close the public gallery.

But Coun Wayne Campbell, leader of the Labour group, furiously responded: “If you are not going to allow the staff to at least listen to a debate, how are we going to resolve this? If you are going to throw the staff out, you are throwing out the Labour group as well.”

The meeting was adjourned just 50 minutes after it started when the 16 Labour councillors walked out in protest.

The council workers continued to shout angrily from the public gallery, before being escorted out.

It was a speech by Councillor Bib Bibby, leader of the council, which led to frayed tempers among both councillors and local authority staff.

He said: “While I am deeply committed to creating an equitable pay system for our employees, it gives me no pleasure to see any of our staff being disadvantaged. I would have preferred to see a less painful way of implementing the pay review.

“I understand that a number of authorities will also implement their pay and grading reviews shortly and are sadly going to have a similar outcome. We have to avoid being in denial about the scale of losses as they are fact and now have to be dealt with.”

Coun Bibby told the meeting that the review had cost almost £8 million to carry out and although he had asked for financial help from the Government, he had been turned down.

He added: “What our employees want right now is leadership and to know we still value them. We will do whatever we can to minimise the impact on them and their families.”

Labour councillor Trevor Holt said: “Staff morale is at an all-time low. I don’t remember it being like this before. They don’t look or feel like they are valued. I am saying quite clearly that you have slapped these people in the face and destroyed their morale.”

Councillor Jack Walton, executive member for human resources and performance, said that meetings had been held with trade unions and David Chaytor, MP for Bury North, about the proposals.

Coun Bibby had also met with members of Blackburn with Darwen Council to discuss the implementation of a similar pay review carried out there.

Questions were raised about the appeals process available to members of staff, but Coun Walton said he could not promise that each employee would be able to make their own case.

Coun Wilf Davidson said: “He has tried to indicate that the process is being carried out in a fair, clear and transparent way, but I cannot see that.”

As the councillors argued about the proposed pay cuts, furious workers shouted from the public gallery, before the meeting was adjourned. When it resumed 15 minutes later, both the Labour councillors’ seats and the public gallery were empty. Later in the meeting, the issue of pay reviews was raised by members of the Liberal Democrat group.

Coun Richard Baum said: “Given the obvious strength of feeling that has been displayed tonight on the subject of job evaluation, can we have any assurances that the council will look towards a more open and transparent process in the future?”

Coun Vic D’Albert said: “I have the greatest sympathy with those in the public gallery. If you were potentially losing your houses then you would be screaming from the rafters as well.

“What I am concerned about is the fact that although this process may be approved locally and nationally, there are still winners and losers. You are not offering any information about how you will do right by these people.”

Coun Bibby responded: “The problem I have is that if this procedure is not completed by the next financial year, it will be subject to higher costs - money which we do not have. There is no flexibility in it. I have looked at the possibility of extending the appeals procedure, but it is in the hands of HR.

“If we had more money I would throw it at it. I would be delighted to ensure that our employees do not lose out, but I would have to throw £16 million at it. To pay £16 million I would have to close Bury down and I still wouldn’t have enough. I have tried everything possible and I still can’t do a thing about it.”

After the meeting, Coun Campbell said: “It was the right decision to walk out. We fully stand behind our decision and behind the members of staff who attended the meeting. It was a show of support for them.

“I ask that Coun Bibby agrees to an all-party working group meeting immediately to try and resolve this. We can’t leave it to the council officers. As politicians we hold a responsibility and it is down to us to make sure we are actually involved. Our staff are more important than party politics. We should all be working together to see what we can do.”

Also speaking after the meeting, Coun D’Albert said: “Quite frankly I don’t blame those in the gallery for being angry - I would be in similar circumstances, especially when in the current climate the tragic reality is that many could end up losing their homes.

“But Labour’s orchestrated antics will not help anyone, this is no time for gesture politics and is frankly insulting. What we need now is for the three political groups to get together to find a way through this situation, to find a way to support hard-hit staff, to improve morale, to retain staff and to ensure that vital front-line services continue unaffected.”

After the meeting, Bury Unison secretary Steve Morton said: "We were hoping that we would hear some proper debate on the issue but that never actually happened. I thought that the leader of the council did a superb job of ducking and diving, but didn't actually say anything.

"People wanted to hear an announcement that perhaps there was some empathy from the council and what they got was the exact opposite. It was not surprising that people reacted angrily. There were some people in tears. It was a natural reaction to how they were being treated."

Meanwhile, town hall leaders are to be grilled by backbenchers about the dispute at a meeting next Thursday.

Labour councillor Mike Connolly, chairman of the resource scrutiny panel, has “summoned” council leader Bob Bibby and executive member for human resources Jack Walton to the meeting.