Brighton and Hove has been warned to prepare for "the worst strikes since the 70s" after the breakdown of pay talks between the council and trade unions after only 11 minutes.Wow, that long?
Hardly worth getting in the beer and sandwiches, was it?
GMB branch secretary Mark Turner said the latest meeting had broken down after just 11 minutes.Oh, I do hope flares don’t come back too…
He said: "If we don't get a better proposal the GMB will instigate a formal industrial action ballot leading to massive disruption in the city, unseen since the 70s."
A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said its objective was to implement a fair pay structure that complied with equal pay legislation with the minimum possible impact on staff.Hmmm, ‘equal pay legislation’, eh?
Where have we heard that before?
Oh, yes.
Winter of discontent again?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a southern version of the strike that has hit Leeds in the past month.'Heavy lifting' unskilled Council jobs hitherto done almost exclusively by men are having their pay rates reduced because of 'harmonisation' with unskilled Council jobs (catering assistants etc) with a minimal heavy lifting component, and done almost exclusively by women.
ReplyDeleteOur Harriet's Equalities Commission is the prime mover in this 'harmonisation' exercise- what a pity she'll have left Brighton when the consequences of implementing this 'harmonisation' become clearly evident to the senses !
If councils were interested in value for money then wages would be the level needed to attract and retain the correct number of staff.
ReplyDeleteIt might be fun to organise a free market replacement rubbish collection though.
Julia, the good news is that flares have come (back) and gone - You couldn't buy anything other than flared jeans 2 years ago, it was horrible...
ReplyDelete"Winter of discontent again?"
ReplyDeleteIt's really looking that way, isn't it?
"This sounds like a southern version of the strike that has hit Leeds in the past month.'Heavy lifting' unskilled Council jobs hitherto done almost exclusively by men are having their pay rates reduced because of 'harmonisation' with unskilled Council jobs (catering assistants etc) with a minimal heavy lifting component, and done almost exclusively by women."
Yup. That's it in a nutshell.
"It might be fun to organise a free market replacement rubbish collection though."
It may come to that, if enough people get fed up. Problem is, you'd still have to pay council tax...
"You couldn't buy anything other than flared jeans 2 years ago..."
The horror, the horror...