Pay cuts not to be used towards budget savings

The Leader and Chief Executive of West Berkshire Council have agreed not to proceed with suggested pay cuts for council employees following a formal discussion with the unions who represent more than half of all the non-school staff.

The idea to ask staff to accept a reduction in salary was put forward by some members of staff to save money and to help to avoid possible redundancies as a result of budget cuts from the Coalition Government.

However a pay cut could not be imposed without the agreement of each individual employee affected and the Leader of the Council was only willing to consider the idea if there was a broad consensus from staff in favour.

Union representatives stated at a recent formal meeting with the Leader of the Council that their members were definitely not in favour of this idea. Therefore the idea to ask staff to accept a pay cut will not proceed. As an alternative, the Chief Executive will explore the possibility of employees being allowed to volunteer for a temporary reduction in hours, or a period of unpaid leave, which would help to save money.

Councillor Graham Jones, Leader of West Berkshire Council said: “I would like to commend our staff for thinking about ways to save money which might help to avoid job losses. Although we have agreed with the trade unions that the possibility of a voluntary cut in salary for all employees is not feasible, we will explore other options to save money which are mutually acceptable.”

Quoted from Administrator

The idea to ask staff to accept a reduction in salary was put forward by some members of staff to save money and to help to avoid possible redundancies as a result of budget cuts from the Coalition Government.

Why do WBC have to keep referring to the Coalition Government? Why can't they just refer to the Government?

If the CEO took a 50k pay cut, that might save one or two jobs!  

Quoted from Greenham Common

If the CEO took a 50k pay cut, that might save one or two jobs!  

Or better still £50k!!

Policy & Communication (West Berks)
The Policy and Communication unit supports, and in some cases leads, the delivery of high quality services to the public and provides support and advice to Members in fulfilling their community leadership and democratic roles.

The Unit's key service delivery processes and outcomes include: providing policy support for the Council's priorities, managing and developing the democratic decision-making process, managing the Council's Appeals system and the Council's complaints system. Developing Strategic Partnerships that support Council priorities, including managing the West Berkshire Partnership, developing partnerships, economic and regional development, community safety and drugs co-ordination and external funding development. The Unit also develops, implements and supports Council performance management systems and manages the provision of Council information to stakeholders.

The service also delivers Public Relations, Communications and Marketing across the Council. The service provides information management to ensure that the Council meets its statutory requirements under Data Protection and Freedom of Information. It also manages the Council's website.

This Service unit is made up of the following teams:

    * Democratic Services
    * General Office
    * Members' Services
    * Partnerships
    * Performance, Research and Consultation
    * Policy and Scrutiny
    * Public Relations
    * Safer Communities Partnership


Nope, try as I might I just can't see any phoney-baloney 21st century non-jobs where staff could be cut....


Threep.

Quoted from Threepwood

[i]Policy & Communication (West Berks)
The Policy and Communication unit supports, and in some cases leads, the delivery of high quality services to the public and provides support and advice to Members in fulfilling their community leadership and democratic roles.

The Unit's key service delivery processes and outcomes include: providing policy support for the Council's priorities, managing and developing the democratic decision-making process, ....

That is the jargon for fiddling the results of public consultations then!