COUNCIL WON'T GET RID OF STAFF - 'COS IT CAN'T!

28-07-2007

It has been claimed that Birmingham City Council can't issue compulsory redundancy notices to its 55,000 strong workforce - because it has an official policy which rules out the practice.

Earlier this week, the local authority said it was shedding several hundred posts as part of an IT deal with Capita, who've promised to cut £1 billion in costs over the next ten years, and reduce the number of administrative buildings from 55 to 9.

When the announcement was made, deputy-leader Paul Tilsley insisted the Council wouldn't force any of its workers onto the dole queue.

Er, that's because it can't.

The deputy leader of the opposition Labour party Ian Ward admitted: “Council policy is that there should be no compulsory redundancies. It's been that way for 25 years.

“With such a large employer I think it should be possible to offer other possible roles if jobs are deleted.

“When we were in power, we never had to do it anyway, but it will be a real challenge for the current administration to see if they can delete 1,000 posts that easily.”

Tilsley admitted he was unaware of the restriction, but his Lib Dem colleague Martin Mullaney has already sounded off about this subject on our Message Board.

He said: “The problem we still have is that we are unable to make people redundant or give them severance pay - namely we can't get rid of people. So our attempts to make the Council more efficient are being undermined by arcane agreements with the Trade Unions.

“For example we have employees who have been sick for other three years, but we are unable to get someone else to fill their role, because they are sick and we can't pay them off - as would happen in the private sector.”

The councils Cabinet Member for Equalities and Human Resources Alan Rudge meanwhile insisted that there was no rule forbidding redundancies but agreed it was policy to avoid forcing staff out of work wherever possible. He said it would only ever be a "last resort".

Should a council ever be able to issue redundancy notices to its workers? Leave a comment on the Council Cut section of the News Massage Board.