Council directors urged to reject pay awards

REBEL Labour councillor Kevin Bennett is urging senior council officers and directors on Warrington Borough Council to reject their proposed pay awards-which have been sanctioned by the controlling Labour Group.
Cllr Bennett, (pictured right) who is currently serving a six month ban from the group after voting against their budget proposals earlier this year, is urging senior officers to turn down the pay awards to help boost staff morale and to “show the people of Warrington we are all in it together!”
His request follows outrage from town hall unions Unison, GMB and Unite earlier this week claiming the senior management restructure being considered by the council and recommended for approval by the controlling Labour group, will mean some senior managers and directors will receive salary increases of between 4.4 per cent and 13.3 per cent.
These will far exceed the one per cent national pay award that the government put in place via a cap on pay increases.
Cllr Bennett, who now looks set to be on another collission course with the Labour group, said in an email to directors: “I realise that the proposed pay and grading are the result of an independent evaluation, but as you will be aware council staff have just been awarded a 1% pay award following a three year pay freeze, with pay still below the increases suffered by domestic and utility bills.
“Staff within the council have to go through a very robust re-grade process to have any hope of a pay increase, with some facing reduced salary as the result of recent re- structures.
“Added to this Warrington Borough Council are also considering further proposals to review terms and conditions to the tune of £250k that will have an impact on our members and all council staff and see them hit financially.
“Therefore I would like to ask you not to accept this pay award at this time in the interest of fairness and the morale of the workforce. I hope you will decide to show the people of Warrington that we are all in it together.”
Meanwhile Town Hall unions are planning a protest at the borough council meeting next Monday, September 9, over what they describe as “immoral” pay rises for senior managers.
Earlier this week the council’s executive member for personnel, Cllr Hitesh Patel defended the proposed pay awards saying: “We’ve had to cut council spending so we’ve cut the number of senior management posts. That necessarily means some senior managers have bigger responsibilities than previously. To make sure we’re matching pay and responsibility in a way that’s fair and reasonable, we asked an independent body to assess how much these managers should be paid. This is a good practice accepted by industry and professions throughout the country.
“The bottom line is that this proposal will save the taxpayer more than £200,000 over a year, compared with the current senior management structure.”