Frontline Wiltshire Council staff 'face losing thousands' says union
They'll be holding a demonstration in Salisbury city centre today
Frontline line staff at Wiltshire Council could lose up to £7,000 pounds a year if a controversial council plans goes ahead, a GMB Union spokesperson has told us.
The council are alleged to have resumed ‘Fire and Rehire’ plans, in a bid to reduce wages of social workers, leisure workers and traffic wardens.
Traffic wardens are staging their own strike action today.
In response, a march and demonstration is being held in Salisbury today (Saturday 4th November) to protest the plans.
They'll be marching around the city centre around 11:30am, with banners and placards, in a peaceful march.
David McMullen, the South’s regional organiser for the union, told Greatest Hits Radio that staff have already lost 14% in real terms due to the cost of living crisis:
“They would then be losing a further 20% off their salary. So we're talking, a third of their salaries, which is a colossal amount of money we're talking about.”
Talks between the GMB Union and Wiltshire Council have been ongoing since December 2021, but the union aren’t convinced the council’s numbers add up.
And with no headway seemingly being made, David told us further strike action can't be ruled out.
“We've met with various leaders of the Council to try and get this sorted out, but the reality is we can't accept how Members losing 20% of their salary to save some fictional amount for the Council.
“We will always sit down if they refuse to sit down and they go ahead with this, then unfortunately Wiltshire will see strikes and disruption that they've not seen before up until now.”
A surprise tactic
David described ‘Fire and Rehire’ as a ‘horrendous employment method’, saying it should be outlawed.
He added that it’s a surprising tactic from the Council.
“The worrying trend will be is once they're known as a council for doing primary hire, doing it a second time, a third time, a fourth time, isn't it scary for them?
“They may as well do it to everyone and carve up your terms and conditions and then we will see seven day working, no weekends, people coming in working Saturdays and Sundays for the same amount of money as they do during the week.”
Council: Union's haven't provided feasible alternative
Wiltshire Council say they recognise the right of GMB union members to strike at this time, but feel the action won't help find a solution.
Terence Herbert, Wiltshire Council Chief Executive, said:
“For the sake of the wellbeing of our staff, and our need to ensure our policies are fit for purpose, we have also been clear that this matter cannot remain unresolved indefinitely. The existing terms and conditions are not financially sustainable in their current form.
“Throughout this process we have strictly adhered to employment law and always will. We have been seeking to reach collective agreement, but to date the unions have not provided any alternative feasible proposals, although Unison and Unite did get a mandate to agree to the proposed changes.
"It’s important to note there will be no immediate dismissal and offer of re-engagement (also called ‘fire and re-hire’) despite the unions stating that this will be the approach. Our absolute preference remains to reach collective agreement but if this is not possible then we will seek to reach agreement with staff on an individual basis.
"We remain open to alternative proposals from the unions that meet our business objectives. We have been speaking to affected staff to provide them with all the information they need, and will continue to do so.
“It is in everyone’s best interests that this is resolved as quickly and fairly as possible and we’ll continue to work hard to achieve this.”