NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL – BUDGET MEETING
NOTTINGHAM CITY COUNCIL – BUDGET MEETING
Last Friday I attended a Budget Meeting with management and the other unions. We were given a presentation about the budget situation that the City is in, with the overall message that it is not good! We were given the further impression that more or less every trick that can be pulled from the hat is being played, and there are no new ones that will not either mess up the future finances of the City or will fail to give a real saving because of some other thing they will cause to happen. No surprises there then! So the discussion is not that there are savings to be made - but how!
This is where there is a lot of debate and the unions are against the proposed changes to our conditions of service because we as employees are already having to cope with a continuing pay freeze, attacks on our pensions, a Government created rise in the cost of living, redundancies, budget cuts and the unpleasant after-taste of the single status mess. There are better ways to achieve savings and workforce reductions than always looking at the bottom line and regarding the workforce simply as a cost.
However the management made some changes to their proposals that are welcome - the most welcome is the withdrawal of the proposal to make the first three days of any sick leave unpaid - this is good and would have involved them in a lot of mess because it is part of our basic terms and conditions nationally.
The other change is the proposal to alter the car parking levy for staff from a fixed rate to a sliding scale dependent on the pay grade of the employee. There are a lot of proposed rates so it is quite sensitive to grade. They also propose that the parking rights are extended to include other council properties than your workplace in evenings and weekends. The current union position is that we are opposed to this charge.
None of the other changes are withdrawn or altered and the unions are completely opposed to all of them. I particularly highlight the proposed reduction of redundancy payments from 2.5 times the statutory rate to 1.5 times. We are all under the anxiety of redundancy, and this proposal will hit us when we are really down! In employment terms losing your job is one of the worst things that can happen to you and it can potentially change your life, cause you to lose your home and put strain on your whole family. Redundancy pay is a buffer to give you time to either get a new job or, for example in the worse case sell your house without running up arrears to mortgage payments in the meantime - it is vital! Redundancy payments were reduced a year or two ago by linking them to the statutory rates and not your actual salary - that affected those on middle and higher grades - this will hit us all - whatever our pay, and must be resisted!
Kind Regards
John GMB