No to Green / Tory cuts at Brighton & Hove City Council

from http://www.gmb-southern.org.uk/no-to-green-cuts-at-brighton-hove-city-council/

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No to Green / Tory cuts at Brighton &; Hove City Council

Posted: 29 Jan 2013

GMB members employed by Brighton & Hove City Council are facing massive cuts to their take-home pay following Green Party & Conservative plans to alter their terms and conditions.

At a meeting of Brighton’s Policy and Resources Committee on 24th January 2013, Green and Conservative Councillors forced through a measure* which authorised Council officers  to implement a ‘modernised pay and conditions package’. Labour Councillors voted against the proposals.

Council officers will now enter into negotiations with the recognised unions to seek cuts for allowances under part 3 of the NJC terms and conditions. These include measures such as overtime and shift allowances and could affect up to 75% of the Council’s workforce. In the event that agreement is not reached the Green / Conservative measures authorise officers to take ‘all necessary measures’ to implement the changes and e-mail correspondence** from the Green Party’s leader of the Council, Jason Kitkat, confirms that he will not rule out instructing officers to impose the changes by dismissing and re-engaging members of staff on new terms and conditions.

Mark Turner, Branch Secretary GMB Sussex Branch said:

‘These proposals could lead to cuts of up to £4000 per annum for low paid workers. This strategy that the Green and Conservative groups are embarking on is unprecedented in Brighton with the potential of dismissing staff and re-engaging them on revised terms and conditions. This has never been done within Brighton & Hove City Council or its predecessors.

To make matters worse, the leader of the Council has decided to delegate responsibility for delivering these changes to Council officers. This is shirking his responsibility and putting officers in the firing line to deliver his bad news. We would have expected this sort of behaviour some other political parties however the greens are now showing their true colours.’

If you want to show your support for our members who are facing cuts to their take home pay then you can sign our petition below. The petition may be published and / or presented to the Council / Councillors and all information submitted through the petition form will be utilised for this purpose.

Petition against cuts at Brighton & Hove City Council

• Name*
  FirstLast
• Address*
  Street AddressAddress Line 2CityZip / Postal Code
• Phone*
• Email*
• Comments
• Please tick any of the boxes below if appropriate
  • I work for the Council and an directly affected by the proposals
  • I work for the Council and am not affected by the proposals
  • I am a local resident
  • I am interested in joining GMB
  • I am interested in getting more involved in the campaign
  • Please contact me
• Please confirm*
  • I confirm that I wish for my name to be added to the petition

For more information contact Mark Turner, GMB Branch Secretary on 07860 787973, Charles Harrity, GMB Senior Organiser for Sussex on 07977518042 or Rob Macey GMB Senior Organiser for Legal, Political and Campaigns on 07710 618 908.

* A copy of the proposal agreed by Green and Conservatives Councillors at Brighton & Hove City Council can be downloaded below:

Pay Modernisation (88.2 KiB, 46 downloads)

** E-mail correspondence between Mark Turner, GMB Branch Secretary & Jason Kitkat, Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council: