RUDGE SLAMS UNION "LIES" AND "POLITICAL" STRIKE

06-02-2008

The Birmingham Councillor managing the city’s controversial Single Status pay review has accused union leaders of telling lies about the dispute - and says that yesterday’s strike was politically motivated.

Alan Rudge was in feisty mood this morning, and although he’s “disappointed” at the prospect of further industrial action, there’s no sign he’s about backtrack on the new arrangements.

“We’re just going to keep on doing what we’re doing,” he said.

“It’s difficult because we started off consultation with the unions in all good faith and I get on well with the corporate union leaders, but it’s become clear that the issue has got caught up with Labour party politics.

“Every time we come close to agreement, it’s obvious that there’s someone directing things from afar.”

Rudge said that he wasn’t necessarily referring to the local Labour opposition led by Sir Albert Bore; he detects interference higher up the party’s chain of command.

And although he's not tarring all the Union reps with the same brush, he believes that one or two local activists are being less than honest in their public statements.

“Some of the regional people come out with statements that are untrue” he said.

“They know exactly what’s going on, and they still come out with these things. For example, they say we’re doing all this to save money. When they tell lies like that it’s very difficult, but we will never shut the door on them.

“Single Status was created by the Labour party and the trade unions – we didn’t create it. We had it imposed on us. They keep forgetting that.”

Rudge argues that if the city’s then Labour leadership had grasped the nettle earlier, council taxpayers could have been saved millions.

The rules originally said back pay only had to be paid for two years, until a court ruling in 2002 extended that period to six years.

“Why couldn’t Bore and his band of lazy ditherers have acted sooner?” Rudge asked.

“The Labour administration had seven years to do it.

"Because they didn’t get on top of sooner, that cost the city three times what it would have done before 2002 – that’s £100 million. After that it became more and more litigious.”

Nevertheless, Rudge believes that the pain will ultimately be worth it, and revealed that the Council is now creating a fairer workplace.

“The only bit I like about this is that we’re cutting inequality” he said.

“For the first time, we’ve cut the gender gap in pay to under 3% which is the acceptable tolerance level recommended by the Equal Opportunities Commisison.”

As to the future, “People have got to learn that negotiation is a two-way process and there’s got to be some give. We’ve got lots of ideas to resolve the problems and we’ll deal with anything valid that’s raised.

“What I don’t like is straightforward, simple lies being put forward as the truth.”