Renfrewshire folk might see a march taking place tomorrow from Brodie Park, they might see their friends and neighbours on that march, they will see people who are not natural demonstrators or marchers at all.
This will be a march and demonstration by Renfrewshire Council workers demanding a fair wage settlement, they have been offered a settlement which is below inflation which is effectively a pay cut, to add insult to injury they are expected to agree to this deal for next year and the following year as well, that could be three wage reductions over three years, do you wonder at their decision to strike ? honestly ! Do you ?
Workers who are employed full time by the council depend on benefits to survive and they have reached a stage where even in that situation they are ready to lose wages to fight back and force this pathetic officer dominated council administration to listen. These decisions are made by the SNP group on the council, this is the same group who recently awarded their senior officers 16.7 % of a wage rise taking some of them to well over £100,000 Yr. some of them are getting an annual rise which is more than low paid council employees get in a year.
This is the true face of the SNP/Lib. Dems. these workers do not want to harm or inconvenience you the service users, so please don’t blame them if your school, nursery or town hall is closed, think about their situation. Remember that a loaf of bread costs the same for them as it does for the council officer on over £100,000 a year, let them know that you support them and more importantly let the SNP/Lib.Dem. rulers know that they are letting their workers down. Ask them why these people have to resort to striking, ask them to come up with a better deal, a decent wage, not a fortune, just a decent wage.
How many times have you heard the SNP call itself ’Scotland’s Party’ how many times have you heard their cruel deception “we stand up for the Scottish people” the next time you hear this patronising guff think about the Renfrewshire Council employees who are being treated like dirt by “Scotland’s Party” and store it in your memory.
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24 comments:
Terry:
So all public sector workers in Labour-controlled England have been offered an above-inflation pay rise then?
We all face massive increases from the likes of British Gas and I can certainly see why your workers feel they need a bigger rise.
The problem for ANY Council (INCLUDING THE LABOUR CONTROLLED ONES) will be how to finance any pay rises. You might also like to reflect for a moment that it is LABOUR councillors on COSLA that are negotiating, at a national level, for the ‘management’ side.
I think it would cost your Council about seven million pounds to cover another rise of 2.5% - to take the increase to 5%.
They will have to find that from the Council Tax payers (that's me again) or from the Scottish Government. They in turn may ask Westminster to provide this - I suspect they won’t. It's a good example of the problem of having a Scottish 'government' without control of the economic levers of power, and the ability to control taxes.
Over £140 every second is the extra money Gordon Brown is scooping in bonus taxes from soaring oil prices and our energy bills.
The biggest windfall is the extra billions coming from North Sea oil taxes paid by companies. Since the Budget on March 12, the Treasury is benefiting from around £12million more every day !
This could easily fund the pay claim.
We are going on strike all over Scotland - not just in Renfrewshire. That includes all the councils controlled by Labour.
Its the Labour government in London that are the cause of all this. They are laughing all the way to the bank. Raking in billions of pounds from taxing the increased cost of gas, electricty and petrol.
They should be paying for our increase in pay.
(UNISON Member).
Sorry, i only got as far as the headline to realise how much humbug this column is.
"Scotlands Party shows contempt for Scottish Workers" - That'll be exactly like the other political parties who continually stick the preverbial two fingers up at Scottish and Brittish workers. Except when there are votes to be won.
Remenber Darling telling us that we were not to expect 3% pay rises, as this would damage the British economy, while not berating the true wreckers of the economy... the bankers.
Then again, those at the top of New Labour are only doing what their idol, Thatch would have done.
Many of us would rather work for half pay than have you and your Labour friends back running the Council.
Finance Dept Staff.
Quite right councillor! We have to stand up against these Hypocrites !
(Rumbold) 19/08/08
I don’t know, perhaps you could tell me how many have been offered a rise below inflation while giving council officers a rise of 16.7 % which is of course what I wrote about.
(Anonymous) 19/08/08
This is not relevant to what I wrote about i.e. the contempt shown by the Renfrewshire Council’s SNP group to their own work force.
(Anonymous) 19/08/08
This is nothing whatsoever to do with what I wrote about. Are all the other councils giving their senior officers a rise of 16.7 % while their workers are struggling to get a rise in line with inflation ?
Why no comment about that ? Do you want me to take you seriously ?
(Allan) 19/08/08
You seem to be incapable of addressing the issue, I criticised the SNP for treating their own work force with contempt, 16.7 % rise for already well paid senior officers while their own staff can’t get a rise in line with inflation, why no comment on that point, that’s what the article is about.
(Anonymous) 19/08/08
I’m worried now about the finance department, do you really work for the council ? Are you really capable of holding down a job ?
(The Incorrigible Plagiarist) 08:40
Why are you wilfully avoiding the issue ? have you nothing to say about the SNP awarding well off council officers with a rise of 16.7 % while their own workers are denied a rise in line with inflation.
Have you thrown in the towel ?
Why are you wilfully avoiding the issue ?
I'm not wilfully avoiding the issue, I'm 100% with you and said so.
It is insensitive at best for those in management roles to accept above inflation pay rises, whilst the rest of us are expected to shoulder the burden of Labour's mismanagement of the economy.
Expose the Hypocrites I say!
have you nothing to say about the SNP awarding well off council officers with a rise of 16.7 %
"It's insensitive at best"
How do I find out how each councillor voted when David Martin made the proposal?
while their own workers are denied a rise in line with inflation.
A pay rise... how I wish I could get a pay rise... alas, us poor soliders of industry in the private sector have to slog on, listening to Alastair Darling telling us not to wish for more money...
Have you thrown in the towel ?
What are you talking about?
(The Incorrigible Plagiarist) 15:38
Why does it take all this time to address the issue instead of all the red herrings, I enjoy an argument as much as the next man but you are becoming ridiculous.
Who voted for what ?
An enquiry to the council would get you that but, I was there and spoke in the debate and I’m positive it was a full turn out which means that all 17 Labour and both Tories voted against the 16.7 % while all 17 of the SNP and all 4 Lib./Dems. voted in favour of the 16.7 % rise.
Why does it take all this time to address the issue instead of all the red herrings,
What red herrings? I'm with you 100% Expose the hypocrites!
I enjoy an argument as much as the next man but you are becoming ridiculous.
I don't understand this point, we are in agreement.
Although, I do find the thread of your comments a little bit disingenious as it seems that Unison are in fact striking across the whole of Scotland and not just in Renfrewshire and certainly not striking on this matter of the disparity in pay rises.
It does seem that you are trying to hide from the point that it is the Labour government in Westminister who are proposing that public sector pay awards are kept below the 2% margin as a measure againt inflation being allowed to spiral out of control - Yes, a LABOUR government, enjoying the massive benefits of huge increases in oil revenue reaped from Scottish waters...
Still, why not give them all big pay rise Terry. Gordon could just print more money and we'd all be in your socialist heaven soon enough.
Terry,
You are either completely dim-witted or just refuse to face facts.
The 16.7% given was an adjustment to bring these officials pay into line with other councils as they had been not been paid correctly for some time.
This was not some kind of inflationary type of rise but merely a correction.
Do you not agree that Renfrewshire Council should pay its staff in line with other councils?
Perhaps you should have been at our rally today.
Certain other councillors appeared today to offer discussion and support. You were not one of them.
We presume that your blog took precedence to our cause.
For your information, most people taking part in the strike action are aware that that this is not a local council issue but a National issue caused by your Party.
(The Incorrigible Plagiarist) 20/08/08
You are still avoiding the issue. I didn’t write about the things you are on about. I support the UNISON action.
(Irene) 21/08/08
So, you were marching for an increased offer while supporting the massive senior officer pay rise, you seem to be a wee bit untrustworthy.
Trying to justify a rise of 16.7 % when workers are being offered less than inflation marks you out as a spineless apologist for injustice, a management lackey !
I was unable to attend the march, 33 other councillors did not attend, did you miss that ? Not very subtle are you ?
You are still avoiding the issue. I didn’t write about the things you are on about. I support the UNISON action.
You are trying to hijack the National UNISON action for your own partisan local party reasons, which I find despicable.
The national UNISON action has absolutely nothing to do with the award to the senior officers of Renfrew council, as you would be well aware.
The other 33 Councillors don't spend most of their writing this stuff !
(The Incorrigible Plagiarist) 21/08/08
“The national UNISON action has absolutely nothing to do with the award to the senior officers of Renfrew council” where did I say that it did ? This really is becoming tiresome. Your refusal to accept that you have got this entirely wrong makes you rather pathetic.
(Anonymous) 21/08/08
So what were they doing then to prevent them going to the march ? Come on you started this, no wonder you hide your identity.
See you were too scared to post my last comment
(Irene) 22/08/08
Well Irene if you don’t flatter yourself, who will. What comment ?
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