NEW COUNCIL PAY STRUCTURE "RIGGED IN BOSSES FAVOUR"

31-10-2007

Angry Birmingham Council workers are complaining that a new wage structure designed to bring about equal pay has been rigged in favour of senior management. They claim that while many ordinary workers will get less money, top bosses have found a way to boost their earnings.

The Stirrer was contacted yesterday by one employee whose colleagues have discovered that under the current Pay and Grading Review their annual income is due to be cut.

Staff on the old S01 grade, for example, are due to be placed on the new GR3 band - a reduction of £3,000. Others will have their salary chopped by £1,200.

Yet it's claimed those in the highest earning management band GR7 (ranging from £46,845 to £60,126) will see a 2K increase in their salaries compared to when the proposals were first published in May.

The review was carried out to enable the Council to achieve Single Status - ie to create a level playing field and eliminate the traditional unfairness which had flourished in local authority pay structures. In this case, at least, it seems to be having the opposite effect.

Our whistleblower says, "as you can imagine, there's not an awful lot of work being done in our department right now. This review was supposed to be all about equalising pay and bringing up the lowest paid at the 'expense' of the highest paid,

"Instead, we can see that the highest paid council staff are to receive a pay rise, whilst the lowest paid staff are facing pay cuts."

What's angered lower paid workers even more is that the Job Evaluation Score needed to qualify for GR7 seems to have been reduced from 801 points to 799 making it easier to qualify for the top band.

According to our source, "They must have had a lot of top bosses who scored 800 and who would have just missed out, so they've moved the goalposts to help them, while cutting wages lower down the scale. A lot of people are very angry."

No one from Birmingham City Council was available for comment.