Mon, 1 Aug 2011

West Midlands councils propose staff rehiring plan

Two West Midlands local authorities have come under fire from a trade union for telling their workforce they would be dismissed and would only be rehired if they agreed to a pay cut.

Staff at Birmingham City Council and Shropshire County Council are currently in negotiations with their employers after they were asked to sign new contracts. Richard Tudor, Unison’s regional officer, who is representing staff at both councils, said: ‘Employees at Birmingham City Council have been told that if they do not agree to the new terms and conditions, they will be dismissed and will be offered re-engagement, but under the new terms.’

In Shropshire, the council faced criticism after a 90-day consultation period and a series of negotiation meetings failed to reach a collective agreement on the changes.

Tudor criticised the council’s decision to spend £96,000 on relocating its management team to new offices – the details of which were revealed following a freedom of information (FOI) request – while simultaneously making contractual changes affecting employees’ pay and conditions. He believes the real figure is much higher because the FOI didn’t take into account the temporary relocation costs of the staff.

Jackie Kelly, head of organisational development at Shropshire County Council, said: ‘The council has decided, reluctantly, to make these changes by way of terminating the contracts of all current staff, and then making all staff an offer of immediate re-employment on new terms and conditions, with effect from 1 October 2011.’

Kelly insisted the council was following a legal process in order to introduce the changes to terms and conditions, more commonly known as ‘dismissal and re-engagement’.

She stressed that all staff had been offered re-employment with the council.