A SHAMEFULL DAY FOR RENFREWSHIRE COUNCIL.

Today was full council and the SNP/Lib. Dem. alliance sunk to new depths. The meeting lasted for 5 hrs. and it started with cringing and squirming and clear signs of panic, why ? Well we witnessed a new way of starting the council meeting as the provost, who at least had the decency to look ashamed spent ten minutes reading out a list of the administration's achievements since we last met, are they panicking or what ? A simiar previous sign of panic was an SNP paper, rushed out to tell everyone how wonderful they are because of the huge well of criticism they were subjected to over the cuts to services they were making, the public though are on to them. As the late ex Councillor Brian Oldrey once said at a meeting baffling everyone "self praise butters no parsnips" he was from London.

Next on the list of shame we saw the SNP / Lib. Dem. cabal awarding an increase of 16.7 % to the highest paid workers in the council, yes we have to print that again, 16.7 % to the already highest paid group on the council, the dept. heads and executives, this takes them through the £100,000/ yr. barrier and means a rise for some of £11,500/yr.
The council has low payed staff on approx. £10,000, that means that someone gets a rise which is bigger than another workers salary. This is being done against a backdrop of savage cuts in Education, Elderly Wardens, Nurseries, Libraries and Housing Area Offices to name some of them.
"Putting the tin lid on it" as they say is the fact that UNISON are balloting for industrial action over a pay offer of 2.5% over 3 years for the other council workers, that's 2.5% a year or for the £10,00 / yr. employee approx. £350 / yr. while our lucky executive gets a rise of £11,500, this is the caring sharing SNP/Lib. Dems. in control folks.

Shameful attempts to justify this farce were made by the administration who are clearly unable to face up to the senior officers, this is the real SNP in action, as I said in the debate "even for the SNP with their flimsy grasp and the Lib. Dems. with no grasp at all of what is right and wrong let alone what is fair and decent, this was scraping the bottom of barrel"
The administration's message to it's UNISON members is clear, we don't have any respect for you and 2.5 % a year for the next 3 years is what we think you are worth, i.e less than inflation, they call themselves Scotland's party by the way !

Last but not least was a Labour motion calling on Council Leader Derek MacKay to apologise to past and present council employees and the last administration for saying that they had inherited a 'bankrupt council' as well as writing that the council was in the 'red' when he took control.
This is the "big boay done it and ran away" defence, used by him in a most disingenuous way to deflect criticism from him and the administration, his problem for him today was that he was asked to justify his remarks and couldn't.

Council workers and elected members past and present were insulted by his accusation that they were incompetent and left a bankrupt council, needless to say he could not back up any of these insults and resorted to bluster and avoided answering the questions.
Numerous attempts were made by the Labour Group to get the opinions of staff as to whether we were ever bankrupt or showing signs of it, not one single source could be found to support what he had said.
The absolutely wretched Cllr. McCartin tried to rescue him by saying he meant a "bankruptcy of ideas" which raised the kind of guffaws that only she can raise.
Cllr. Mackay and the SNP had a bad day today and there will be more, here and in Holyrood, he showed all the inexperience of a novice by not accepting that he had blundered and only succeeded in making himself look childish.

Which Party describes itself thus ? "We are a left of centre political party" that's right it's the SNP !