08.00 am. April 1St. 20 10 (an omen?) off to Renfrewshire Council for the regular full council meeting the circus is back in town, the now commonplace protest group gathers outside; protests are becoming more and more common the longer the SNP Lib. / Dem. cabal remain in power. Today’s protest is about a very embarrassing cut being made by the administration; perhaps I should rephrase that and say it is a cut which would disgrace anyone with an ounce of decency in them which is why it is being blithely done by the present administration who have shown already with other savage cuts that they are completely bereft of any decency and have no shame.
Many people thought they couldn’t get any worse after their attack on the elderly wardens service; that attack was followed by cuts in music tuition for our schoolchildren surely that’s about as low as they will sink we said; wow! these are tough guys with claymores; insensible and inept. Then came the abandonment of the pensioners yearly outing ‘doon the watter’ “completely out of order” we shouted along with the public; no more surely no more the suffering public pleaded; then they took away the school buses, we began to think we were living under occupation by a particularly sadistic enemy of the people, no more, no more we pleaded again on behalf of the population. Is there a pattern to this I hear you ask? think ‘vulnerable’, pensioners, school kids, the weakest under attack by the SNP Lib. Dem. bullies; that’s the pattern no mistake about it go for the weakest.
Today’s council meeting saw them descend to new depths; today Labour moved a motion to have the council reconsider it’s decision to remove Death Cover Insurance from it’s lowest paid workers; those who can’t afford the council pension schemes; the most defenceless again are hit and hit hard by these bean counters; this council can’t afford to cover it’s poorest workers but it can afford to pay it’s senior officers 22% pay rises giving rises in some cases of approx. £15,000 that’s a rise not a salary. During the debate the completely hapless SNP leader Mckay tried to tell us that his council were not mean and paid good wages; is he not aware of or is he deliberately ignoring the many full time council employees who can’t survive without benefits because their wages are so low? Is it dunderheed Derek or deceitful Derek?
THE POOLS PROTESTERS
Another protest today was from the Johnstone and Elderslie pools campaign; again the Labour group moved an amendment to reconsider the proposed closures; this time we got the impression that the administration were enjoying telling them that they had no chance; the protesters were very angry and I’m sure they will remember the conceit of the SNP Lib, Dem. Cllrs. Let me give you a couple of examples of the administration’s arguments and you can decide for yourselves whether they are being honest and straight with the people of Johnstone and Elderslie.
Cllr. McKay SNP boasted of organisations in the area who supported their plans, this sounds good until you examine what he is saying and you find that he and the council are being insincere in the extreme. The SNP Lib. Dems. have a large project to expand sports facilities which impinges on present swimming provision in the area they regularly trot out that Johnstone High School PTA support their plan; Johnstone High School will get a new swimming pool under their plan so no surprise there eh? SNP to the PTA “would you like a brand new school swimming pool?” PTA “ OK let us think about this, OK we’ve thought about it we want a new pool” hence cllr. McKay’s sly claim that he had their support. Then he claimed the support of a local swimming club which he said backed the plans for increased sports facilities; well they would wouldn’t they?
And here patient reader is the thing which blows their claim to have consulted out of the water if you will pardon the pun. The SNP Lib. Dem. disdain for the people is such that they think they can get away with claiming the support of groups without ever mentioning in their pitch to them that Johnstone and Elderslie pools were too close. That’s correct these shysters never asked anyone at all if they would support the closures of these two pools; they let the people they were selling it to assume that the new facilities were additional to the existing pools, a grubby trick and typical of the SNP Lib. Dems. The local swimming club wrote to Labour and said “under no circumstances do we support the closure of any existing facilities” the SNP conned them and the other people of the area. It remains the case that no one has been able to find anyone in the area who was consulted on these matters and certainly no one who was told that these 2 pools were to close as part of their plans.
We asked the SNP Lib. Dem. administration to consult again with the information included about the pool closures and they voted that down; considering their sneaky behaviour it comes as no surprise. These are the facts of the matter and they bring shame on Renfrewshire Council and particularly the SNP who lead it, they simply can’t be trusted but this aint over yet the people of the area are infuriated at what they are now learning, it has brought the local council and local politics into disrepute and is has to be sorted; how many people who were conned into voting for this mob of chancers are now regretting falling for their deceitful claims; will they make the same mistake again?
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25 comments:
Your condemnation of salaries of council chiefs is monumentally hypocritical.
The highest paid person in Renfrewshire Council (The Chief Executive)gets paid around £60000(yes that's Sixty Thousand Pounds) less than his equivalent in nearby Glasgow City Council.
And who are his paymasters in Glasgow - yes you guessed it - Labour.
In fact, the Glasgow Chief Executive gets paid only slightly less than the Prime Minister.
And at the same time as paying this exorbitant salary Labour are closing 22 schools and nurseries in Glasgow.
I don't know of any other private company that gives Death In Service cover to its employees that choose not to join their pensions schemes. This includes lower paid employees
Why then should the council tax payer foot the bill for this for council workers only?
Maybe they should be giving them free BUPA as well?
(Anonymous) 02/04/10
There is always someone who will try to divert the argument because they can’t defend their support for injustices; that’s you in case you were wondering; you and the SNP led administration are desperate to discuss anything other than the facts.
The C.E. of Renfrewshire Council and his senior officers have received an increase of 22% while the workers that they and the SNP claim to admire and respect so much despite working full time can’t survive without tax credits and benefits----- now that’s real hypocrisy.
You and the SNP sycophants in the council who roll over when the officers tell them might think that you can sneer at low paid workers while giving the best paid a rise of £15,000 but you will regret that cowardly behaviour in due course.
(Anonymous) 11:04
The council is not a private company and the workers I refer to do not choose not to join the pension scheme they can’t afford to join it.
Providing free death in service cover to employees is a humane; progressive and enlightened thing to do; the SNP Lib. Dem. administration on Renfrewshire Council have proved yet again that they, as I have often said “know the price of everything and the value of nothing” like the pensioners annual trip, the school busses and the closure of swimming pools they are proving to be the enemies of the people.
Re the comment from anonymous at 6.28 AM, I found this very hard to believe so I checked up on it today.
It is actually true. Labour pay their Chief Executive in Glasgow aroung £185,000 per year.
All this time you have been mouthing off about high pay in Renfrewshire when you own party in Glasgow have to send a Securicor van with their Chief Executive's wages.
Next you'll be trying to tell me that Labour have nothing to do with setting his wages and it was a big boy that did it and ran away.
You oviously dodged the issue in your reply as you cannot defend it.
Your and your kind are the worst kind of hypocrite.
And please before you accuse me of being SNP, I am a conservative supporter as I have told you before.
Ryan
(Ryan Connelly)15:45
“And please before you accuse me of being SNP, I am a conservative”
Is there a difference?
Whatever else you might be you are either dishonest, dumb or lazy. If you read the things I have written on the issue of pay rises NB; that’s pay rises not salaries you will see that my comments and criticisms have been based on the astonishing pay awards for senior officers at a time when low paid workers some who rely on benefits were being forced to take a wage freeze.
Just for you I will reiterate; senior officers have received 22% rises which represent approx. £15,000 a year, a sum above the annual salary of our lower paid workers who can’t survive on their wages.
You might find it strange as a conservative but I find that unacceptable, and cutting death cover for people who are already struggling to get by is an act of iniquity, what do you think?
The pay increases were to bring Renfrewshire Council Officers in line with other local authorities or should they be paid less than their couterparts in other areas of the country????
I would love to see how your party would balance the books as by listening to you you would just spend, spend , spend until there was no money left. Oops thats what Labour does and why we we are in such a mess at the moment!!
Again you are hiding Terry so let's make it easy.
Do you think that it is right that Labour are gifting their Chief Executive a salary of £185,000 when the chief Exec in Renfrewshire earns more than £60000 (yes sixty thousand pounds) less.
Please tell me how Labour justify this?
Only 6 protesters at your mass demo to save the knackered Johnstone pool. Guess the other 22,000 plus Johnstone people don't agree with you !
What about the low paid workers at Glasgow City Council who are looking at thie Chief Executive earning around £170,000. He also gets huge bonuses for doing such menial tasks as announcing election results. A few years in 2007 ago he got around £30,000 for doing this
They must be absolutely sickened.
Why aren't Labour insisting that this man takes a huge pay cut.
It seems that they are spineless when it comes to Council Officers pay when they are allowing this man to take such an obscene salary.
And you keep blowing on about The level of Council officers staff in Renfrewshire which is far far less.
Hypocrite
(Ronnie) 09:42
Well Ronnie which is it; Lies or stupidity? Massive wages as opposed to low wages? I’m ‘agin it’; it’s rocket science for us socialists.
I have criticised Renfrewshire Council for awarding 22% rises to senior officers while demanding that their low paid workers take a rise of less than 2% I would have thought you might support my position.
Just what is your position anyway are you afraid to declare your political allegiances? You will feel much cleaner and more honest if you just find the courage to declare yourself; go on; try it; stop hiding.
(Anonymous) 02/04/10
“Guess the other 22,000 plus Johnstone people don't agree with you!”
This presumably means that they agree with you! Bright guy aren’t you.
The salient point which a dullard like you would obviously miss is that the campaign goes on and will continue.
(Anonymous) 02/04/10
I would not pay anyone this kind of money to anyone while such an obscene pay gap exists but; that does not help me to understand why you are refusing to comment on the substance of my post; I can only conclude that you are another sycophantic SNP apologist.
22% for the highly paid while full time employees rely on benefits and death benefit insurance withdrawn from those who can least afford it and you can’t find anything to say about it; I think we’ve got your number alright.
(mags) 02/04/10
Pathetic – the SNP led council give 22% rises to their highest paid staff while the low paid council workers rely on benefits and the SNP also remove their death benefit insurance leaving them with none and you can’t find a critical word to say about it.
I wonder what your politics are; I would go for one of the N’s - BNP or SNP- there is no difference.
What do you think of the proposed NI rise? That'll hit workers at all levels - including the low paid - and their employers too. Good idea/bad idea?
(Hemmerfru) 14:31
Good idea/bad idea?
Wrong question it’s a necessary idea; it has to be done and those below £20,000 are exempt.
A better question would be do we raise the money required this way or do we rely on the Tories to raise it by ‘efficiencies’ or put another way who do you trust Labour or Tory? Are you happy to accept that efficiencies will raise £6 Billion when they won’t give details of the efficiencies? I’m not.
I don't trust Labour or the Tories with this, really.
The last 13 years have seen fairly profligate state spending outstrip the revenue coming in, so I don't think giving the government more money to blow is a great way to reduce the deficit or maintain services effectively. Plus the rhetoric about not increasing NI 'taking money out of the economy' seems like arrant nonsense.
On the other hand, I don't think the Conservatives have the first idea what to cut - and I wouldn't back their ability to organise the proverbial in a brewery any more than I would Labour.
Reducing the size of the state would be good, but I'd like to know details. Doubt we'll be seeing many of those until after the election though... Bit of a dilemma for voters without a tribal allegiance, this one.
(Hemmerfru) 08:47
You have details from Labour a rise in NI to cut debt £6 Billion; from the Tories? £27 Billion cuts through unidentified efficiencies in 9 months; who do you believe?
Neither really.
Labour created the huge deficit by overspending wildly and borrowing too much, so pleading for more money to plug the hole they created seems a bit rich.
Unless the Tories can actually outline what they'd cut, I won't take them seriously.
If something has to give though, I think state spending should be reduced more than the tax burden should increase.
(Hemmerfru) 12:15
Look it’s going to be Labour or Tory and the Tories are telling us they can make £27 Billion of efficiency savings in 9 months without telling us how; is the choice really that difficult?
"is the choice really that difficult?
It is not difficult at all.
In fact there really is no choice.
Labour must go as they have made a monumental mess of the economy and it would appear that they will continue to do so.
The only people that will continue to vote for them are the benefits brigade and those that don't pay council tax and national insurance.
Of course kid on socialists such as yourself will put the x in the box to support the "socialist lifestyles" of people such as Wendy Alexander and Jim "please may I have another 42 inch Plasma Tv Mr taxpayer" Sheridan.
Whilst Labour may not increase the basic rate of tax it is cast iron guaranteed that they will raise every other method of indirect taxation available
(Ronnie) 09:17
“Labour must go as they have made a monumental mess of the economy”
I assume that you think that the global economic crash was just a coincidence. It was Labour’s handling of that crisis which saved our skins.
The rest of your post is the usual right wing reactionary rant; not worth a response; keep chewing the carpet.
I agree with Ronnie that there isn't a choice, but for a different reason: they're both equally compromised. I don't want to vote for a post-Thatcherite party which, sadly, they both are.
Our recovery from recession was the slowest and weakest of the G7 economies, which gives the lie to the idea that Labour worked miracles on the economic front.
The government's own projections predict that the national debt will double in four years to £1.4 trillion. The NI increase proposed won't dent this - it will just shift money from private pockets to state coffers to be spent on who knows what. Meanwhile, the Tories are patronising us with talk of £12bn in efficiency savings: this isn't enough to dent the debt.
If neither party plans cuts, then, as the Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs says, "they must be planning on raising taxes". Otherwise, how can public spending continue to be financed?
Aside from that, both major parties have been shown to be troughing it up but good for years and high-profile figures on both sides have now been caught on camera admitting they're for sale. If we're not going to be presented with proper policies, we're being asked to vote on appearances - which aren't, on the evidence available, very good.
I can't bring myself to vote Tory but even though my Labour candidate is Diane Abbot, who I quite like, I'd hate to think that my vote helped send a Labour MP to parliament after the horrors of the last 13 years.
I don't know what to do, frankly. This must be how borderline Tory voters felt in 1997: I actually feel sorry for them now.
(Hemmerfru) 11:03
“By far the strongest and most successful leader in dealing with the global economic crash was Gordon Brown” – Paul Kruger, American economist and recent winner of the Nobel Prize for economics.
There is a tendency for the economic experts, (not all of course) to regard Brown’s reaction and attitude to the Global crash in a far better light than his non expert political opponents.
“If neither party plans cuts”
Labour have already said that there will be cuts.
“after the horrors of the last 13 years”
You are of course entitled to your opinion but I feel obliged to point out to you that there are a great many people who don’t regard the last 13 years in the least bit horrible.
(Hemmerfru) 14/04/10
If you accept that the election is between Labour and Tory which it is and like me you are not an economist it comes down to who you can trust.
The Liberal Democrat attraction is what it has basically always been which is ‘Vote for us because we are not labour and we are not Tory’ they don’t stand for anything and will forever bear the impression of the last person who sat on them.
Brown and Labour are by far the best bet to get us through the hard times to come; the opposition are novices but; I would say that wouldn’t I?
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