400 more Brighton and Hove workers face pay woe (From The Argus)
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400 more Brighton and Hove workers face pay woe
12:30pm Thursday 24th September 2009 in News By Andy Chiles
An extra 400 workers will be worse off if a new pay deal goes ahead, The Argus understands.
Unions said the total affected by planned Brighton and Hove City Council cuts will actually be nearer to 1,200, rather than the 821 identified by a leaked document in July.
The number has rocketed because the council now wants to scrap allowances paid to staff for extra work, including operating gritter lorries in winter or standby call-outs, as well as cutting basic wages.
Axing the payments will affect hundreds of front-line staff, including care workers and those at the CityClean refuse service.
The moves are expected to be officially put to trade unions by the council next Tuesday, September 29, on the day Gordon Brown will be making his speech during the Labour Conference at the Brighton Centre.
The GMB union said it feared the worst after a series of "disappointing" talks with the council.
Branch secretary Mark Turner said he believed his members would be asked to take cuts of up to £8,000 a year each and face the sack if they refused the deal.
The cuts were proposed by the council as a way of dealing with a historical inequality in its pay structure which left it vulnerable to legal action.
In March it made compensation payouts of up to £20,000 to 3,000 unskilled workers based at schools, libraries and other departments because they had been underpaid for years by comparison to others, like binmen, with similar skills.
More than 200 staff at faith schools which are council-funded but managed by their governors were left out of the payouts and have threatened their own industrial action.
A council spokesman yesterday refused to confirm or deny any details of the plans.
He said: “We are engaged in a constructive dialogue with the unions over our duty to pay fair wages across the city council. It would be inappropriate to comment on the content of those discussions while they are ongoing.”
Comments(14)
CeeBee
says...
12:57pm Thu 24 Sep 09
PaulOckenden
says...
12:59pm Thu 24 Sep 09
davyboy
says...
1:13pm Thu 24 Sep 09
PaulOckenden wrote:yes, because it is normally done out of hours, i.e overnight, and is classed as overtime. when you can't get to work because the roads are too icy, you may think again!! if you work monday to friday, and are called in at the weekend, you would expect extra pay, wouldn't you? there we go then!
Extra money for operating gritter lorries in Winter? Sheesh! We'll be paying firemen extra for attending calls where there's flames next.
Nick Brighton
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1:16pm Thu 24 Sep 09
PaulOckenden
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1:24pm Thu 24 Sep 09
davyboy wrote:If I had a job as a gritter lorry operator (or if that was part of my job spec.) I'd expect my basic pay to cover that duty. Lots of jobs are done at unsociable hours, but without the backup of allowances for late night working.
PaulOckenden wrote:yes, because it is normally done out of hours, i.e overnight, and is classed as overtime. when you can't get to work because the roads are too icy, you may think again!! if you work monday to friday, and are called in at the weekend, you would expect extra pay, wouldn't you? there we go then!
Extra money for operating gritter lorries in Winter? Sheesh! We'll be paying firemen extra for attending calls where there's flames next.
People like Nurses, Bakers, Police, Printers, etc. all work through the night without expecting extra pay. So what makes gritter drivers special?
Granny
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1:31pm Thu 24 Sep 09
davyboy
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2:13pm Thu 24 Sep 09
PaulOckenden wrote:because it is NOT normally part of their usual hours, and they are expected to be available at short notice, maybe at 1am. that is not sociable, unless, as you say, it is part of a rostered duty. road gritting cannot be rostered in this way, as you never know when it may be required. therefore, call out pay is usually paid. if that is removed, then i believe that the operator has every right to refuse to come in!
davyboy wrote:If I had a job as a gritter lorry operator (or if that was part of my job spec.) I'd expect my basic pay to cover that duty. Lots of jobs are done at unsociable hours, but without the backup of allowances for late night working.
PaulOckenden wrote:yes, because it is normally done out of hours, i.e overnight, and is classed as overtime. when you can't get to work because the roads are too icy, you may think again!! if you work monday to friday, and are called in at the weekend, you would expect extra pay, wouldn't you? there we go then!
Extra money for operating gritter lorries in Winter? Sheesh! We'll be paying firemen extra for attending calls where there's flames next.
People like Nurses, Bakers, Police, Printers, etc. all work through the night without expecting extra pay. So what makes gritter drivers special?
For Every Sprinkle I Find
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2:15pm Thu 24 Sep 09
DISGRACE
PaulOckenden
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2:19pm Thu 24 Sep 09
Hey, it either is or isn't part of their job duties. You can't have it both ways.
Brighton Lad
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6:11pm Thu 24 Sep 09
Variable
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11:09am Fri 25 Sep 09
PaulOckenden
says...
11:20am Fri 25 Sep 09
Brighton Lad wrote:You're seriously trying to tell me that Gritter Drivers don't have "Driving a gritter" in their job description?
It isn't part of their job description. It is overtime and as has already been said its often at short notice. This council has an awful lot to answer for. These men and women do a job that most won't do and on the most part, do it with a cheery attitude. They don't get paid a brilliant wage, and as a service user, I for one back them if they do go on strike.
r2dea2
says...
5:05pm Fri 25 Sep 09
It isn't part of their job description. It is overtime and as has already been said its often at short notice. This council has an awful lot to answer for. These men and women do a job that most won't do and on the most part, do it with a cheery attitude. They don't get paid a brilliant wage, and as a service user, I for one back them if they do go on strike.
You're seriously trying to tell me that Gritter Drivers don't have "Driving a gritter" in their job description?
NO THEY DON'T, in the day time, there normail shift is 0700-1530 there driving dust carts picking up our rubbish, i used to work for cityclean as a loader and i can tell you, it's no fun for the drivers to get called out at 0200 to do a gritting run after a full days shift, it's not in there contracts to do it, we should all stop having a dig at these guys, they work hard for there money in all weathers.If you think you can do better for less money then get off your back side and show us how its done then. Don't be wrighting in to the ARGOS when you sitting in a field in your car upside down cos the roads have not been gritted because the gritter drivers have not been paid what they should be!!! They should leave there pay alone. I saw this coming along time ago and jumped ship, now a lot of my fellow ex binmen/ women are doing the same!!
davyboy says...
12:46pm Thu 24 Sep 09