Council faces biggest jobs cull in its history warn unions (From Daily Echo)

Just shows that the reduction in wages put in place when the conservatives were in charge was the best way.

Nod wrote:
Just shows that the reduction in wages put in place when the conservatives were in charge was the best way.

Yes.
>
Instead , the Unions put SCC staff through the wringer merely to cause grief to the ruling Tory council and for the benefit of their puppets, the Labour Party!
It was political engineering of the worst kind and was extremely damaging to both SCC employees and Southampton City residents.
>
This council started out in disarray and is now in total disarray!

The Unions seem to be blaming the Tory led coalition and the former Tory led council, which is only fair I suppose as the Tories both nationally and locally have been blaming the last Labour Government for the last 2 years.

Sure everyone knows there are plenty of back office supervisor/manager grades that can be done away with with.
For too long SCC has been overloaded
with these posts and a drastic cut is needed.

This Labour Concil is the same as the last Labour government, totally incapable of running a bath let alone a city.
Well Southampton you voted this bunch of idiots into power now live with your mistake as its only going to get worse!

Is this so called union leader Mike Tucker same Mike Tucker who back stabbed what was supposed to be fellow socialists and supported Conservatised Dear Leader Led NuLabour?

Perhaps realy Trotskyite poses Mike Tucker should start telling some truth, although at his age it may be bit difficult to change old habits.

Which planet was he on that he did not know about the central government making financial life of all local councils difficult, when he opted to support Closet Conservatives of NuLabour?

geoff51 wrote:
This Labour Concil is the same as the last Labour government, totally incapable of running a bath let alone a city.
Well Southampton you voted this bunch of idiots into power now live with your mistake as its only going to get worse!

I honestly believe that Royston would have struggled to balance the books without redundancies and cuts to services being made.

If the Labour council can manage the redundancy process correctly without the threat/fear of strikes left right and centre then surely that is better that what we got last year, isn't it?

Over the Edge wrote:

geoff51 wrote: This Labour Concil is the same as the last Labour government, totally incapable of running a bath let alone a city. Well Southampton you voted this bunch of idiots into power now live with your mistake as its only going to get worse!

I honestly believe that Royston would have struggled to balance the books without redundancies and cuts to services being made. If the Labour council can manage the redundancy process correctly without the threat/fear of strikes left right and centre then surely that is better that what we got last year, isn't it?

Yes, you are absolutely right. All Councils have had funding slashed and all Councils are having to make redundancies because the banks were bailed out with public money.
Job losses were always expected but the difference is that Royston Smith claimed the wage cuts were to save jobs. He did that and then still cut jobs, so who is the liar?
At least this Council are working with the Unions and not choosing a line of deliberate provocation.

Maine Lobster wrote:

Over the Edge wrote:

geoff51 wrote: This Labour Concil is the same as the last Labour government, totally incapable of running a bath let alone a city. Well Southampton you voted this bunch of idiots into power now live with your mistake as its only going to get worse!

I honestly believe that Royston would have struggled to balance the books without redundancies and cuts to services being made. If the Labour council can manage the redundancy process correctly without the threat/fear of strikes left right and centre then surely that is better that what we got last year, isn't it?

Yes, you are absolutely right. All Councils have had funding slashed and all Councils are having to make redundancies because the banks were bailed out with public money. Job losses were always expected but the difference is that Royston Smith claimed the wage cuts were to save jobs. He did that and then still cut jobs, so who is the liar? At least this Council are working with the Unions and not choosing a line of deliberate provocation.

Here here.

"all Councils are having to make redundancies because the banks were bailed out with public money."

I think you'll find that the reason was that we were living beyond our means under Labour's borrow/lend/loan/cre
dit/pay later style of government and the cuts are due to the unprecedented, never seen before, Deficit/Debt that Labour saddled us with!

Maine Lobster wrote:

Over the Edge wrote:

geoff51 wrote: This Labour Concil is the same as the last Labour government, totally incapable of running a bath let alone a city. Well Southampton you voted this bunch of idiots into power now live with your mistake as its only going to get worse!

I honestly believe that Royston would have struggled to balance the books without redundancies and cuts to services being made. If the Labour council can manage the redundancy process correctly without the threat/fear of strikes left right and centre then surely that is better that what we got last year, isn't it?

Yes, you are absolutely right. All Councils have had funding slashed and all Councils are having to make redundancies because the banks were bailed out with public money.
Job losses were always expected but the difference is that Royston Smith claimed the wage cuts were to save jobs. He did that and then still cut jobs, so who is the liar?
At least this Council are working with the Unions and not choosing a line of deliberate provocation.

I think he also mentioned the £25 million pounds worth of cuts was to be inflicted by Eric Pickles and his mob, over the next 3 years, not the the next financial year, I may be wrong.

No the Council is not working with the Unions it is doing what they are telling the council to do as they pull the puppet strings.

George4th wrote:
"all Councils are having to make redundancies because the banks were bailed out with public money."

I think you'll find that the reason was that we were living beyond our means under Labour's borrow/lend/loan/cre

dit/pay later style of government and the cuts are due to the unprecedented, never seen before, Deficit/Debt that Labour saddled us with!

Would that the exact same policy supported by the Tory opposition at the time? argh yes I believe it was.

geoff51 wrote:
No the Council is not working with the Unions it is doing what they are telling the council to do as they pull the puppet strings.

Of course they're working with the unions , any union worth their salt would argue against the possibility of 200 job loses, maybe Cllr Letts has gone about it the right way, not like your illustrious leader Royston who nearly led the city into a £12 million court battle, that he couldn't win.

The council has acres of land it can sell to plug this gap no problem.
This was what the council workers wanted after all, job cuts rather than pay cuts. I pity them out in the real world.

Nicole23 wrote:
The council has acres of land it can sell to plug this gap no problem.
This was what the council workers wanted after all, job cuts rather than pay cuts. I pity them out in the real world.

I think you'll find they're already attempting to sell off buildings and land to reduce the deficit

Over the Edge wrote:

geoff51 wrote:
No the Council is not working with the Unions it is doing what they are telling the council to do as they pull the puppet strings.

Of course they're working with the unions , any union worth their salt would argue against the possibility of 200 job loses, maybe Cllr Letts has gone about it the right way, not like your illustrious leader Royston who nearly led the city into a £12 million court battle, that he couldn't win.

The council has been overstaffed in most areas for years under all parties and has now got to cut its cloth to fit.
In the real world cost savings have already been made now its the turn of the public services to join the real world where a full days work for a full days pay is required.
Get over it Trade unions you are dinasoaurs and superfluous to the needs of your members, you got this council elected with your lies, now do as you are told by them or get out of the arguement

Didn't Labour say before the election no cuts to jobs or services?
I cannot believe it did Labour mislead the voters?
Will the unions now go on strike, or is that only if the Tories were in power?
As a council tax payer I would like the unions to pay TUCKER 's wages not me.

aldermoorboy wrote:
Didn't Labour say before the election no cuts to jobs or services? I cannot believe it did Labour mislead the voters? Will the unions now go on strike, or is that only if the Tories were in power? As a council tax payer I would like the unions to pay TUCKER 's wages not me.

No they didn't.

Well as I said during the strikes - it will be the Council Workers and Tax Payers(and many people are both) who will suffer for the actions of others. How true. Royston cut wages to save jobs in the short term IE if we pay everybody less there'll be fewer redundancies/cuts. Labour were elected saying they'd restore pay and jobs which naturally they cannot afford to so more jobs/services will go earlier than inder Royston's lot. Interesting that the waste calendar for next year isn't being issued - so that's fortnightly collections and redundancies in the binmen roster i suppose. Front line staff will go because a. a lot of back office staff have gone and b. it is easier to blame the conservatives if the electorate are affected. That's politics and politicians for you. Decreasing allowances and paying senior management a lot less might be a fun place to start.

Retaining frontline staff who actually provide a service to the citizens of Southampton is key.
It is at supervisor/manager level where
SCC provide poor value for money to council tax-payers.
These post offer no 'end product' and could easily be cut without any impact on service delivery.

How many people were employed by the council ten years ago? A pound to penny that after these cuts the number will still be higher than then.

geoff51 wrote:

Over the Edge wrote:

geoff51 wrote:
No the Council is not working with the Unions it is doing what they are telling the council to do as they pull the puppet strings.

Of course they're working with the unions , any union worth their salt would argue against the possibility of 200 job loses, maybe Cllr Letts has gone about it the right way, not like your illustrious leader Royston who nearly led the city into a £12 million court battle, that he couldn't win.

The council has been overstaffed in most areas for years under all parties and has now got to cut its cloth to fit.
In the real world cost savings have already been made now its the turn of the public services to join the real world where a full days work for a full days pay is required.
Get over it Trade unions you are dinasoaurs and superfluous to the needs of your members, you got this council elected with your lies, now do as you are told by them or get out of the arguement

I believe the electorate got this council elected, unless every voter in the city is member of a trade union members then it was the electorate not the unions who elected the council.

Government austerity measures are forcing these redundancies, those austerity measures a failing, go ask the IMF.

I do not disagree about the council being overloaded with staff, but at senior or management level, however on the front line staffing levels are very low.

I'm hoping that by working with the unions to manage the redundancy process the council will prevent strike action, take a look a picture at the top of page, that is people striking because in response to the Tory handling of a very difficult situation.

Don't worry our honest Labour councillors will save us.
They won't reward themselves first.
They won't blame every one except themselves.
They won't give councillor staff on £50,000 a year a salary rise, and make bin men redundant.
Finally you know none of them would back a dishonest leader, because that would not be nice.
We our safe under Labour, goodnight sleep well.

I'm really worried. This storey had been on here and no Southy spouting his rubbish. Can someone knock his door and make sure he's ok?

Over the Edge wrote:
The Unions seem to be blaming the Tory led coalition and the former Tory led council, which is only fair I suppose as the Tories both nationally and locally have been blaming the last Labour Government for the last 2 years.

Yes is called the blame game... Politicians play it a lot.

rich the stitch wrote:
I'm really worried. This storey had been on here and no Southy spouting his rubbish. Can someone knock his door and make sure he's ok?

No Loosehead either.

skin2000 wrote:

rich the stitch wrote:
I'm really worried. This storey had been on here and no Southy spouting his rubbish. Can someone knock his door and make sure he's ok?

No Loosehead either.

Be patient. Southy is just checking with the Kremlin before responding ;-)

aldermoorboy wrote:
Don't worry our honest Labour councillors will save us.
They won't reward themselves first.
They won't blame every one except themselves.
They won't give councillor staff on £50,000 a year a salary rise, and make bin men redundant.
Finally you know none of them would back a dishonest leader, because that would not be nice.
We our safe under Labour, goodnight sleep well.

:-)

We all knew cuts were coming, this isn't news. Just get them over with so we can make the best of this situation. Stop delaying and consulting with Unions, do what is best for residents of the City.

Sack the lot of them, we don't need dustmen, road sweepers, drain cleaners, as was seen during the dispute we managed quite well without them.

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
Sack the lot of them, we don't need dustmen, road sweepers, drain cleaners, as was seen during the dispute we managed quite well without them.

We are paying for those services. Maybe if the wage wasn't so high we could afford these luxuries ;-)

IronLady2010 wrote:

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
Sack the lot of them, we don't need dustmen, road sweepers, drain cleaners, as was seen during the dispute we managed quite well without them.

We are paying for those services. Maybe if the wage wasn't so high we could afford these luxuries ;-)

I can't comment, I have no idea what their wages are. We could raise the Council Tax a little to compensate, I am not wealthy but I would pay my way for a good service.

OSPREYSAINT wrote:

IronLady2010 wrote:

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
Sack the lot of them, we don't need dustmen, road sweepers, drain cleaners, as was seen during the dispute we managed quite well without them.

We are paying for those services. Maybe if the wage wasn't so high we could afford these luxuries ;-)

I can't comment, I have no idea what their wages are. We could raise the Council Tax a little to compensate, I am not wealthy but I would pay my way for a good service.

Of course you know, you have commented on previous articles of salary cuts, which have given the salaries of bin men and street cleaners.

IronLady2010 wrote:

OSPREYSAINT wrote:

IronLady2010 wrote:

OSPREYSAINT wrote:
Sack the lot of them, we don't need dustmen, road sweepers, drain cleaners, as was seen during the dispute we managed quite well without them.

We are paying for those services. Maybe if the wage wasn't so high we could afford these luxuries ;-)

I can't comment, I have no idea what their wages are. We could raise the Council Tax a little to compensate, I am not wealthy but I would pay my way for a good service.

Of course you know, you have commented on previous articles of salary cuts, which have given the salaries of bin men and street cleaners.

The thing is Council Tax went up big time and we had no better service. I remember when Bin men used to walk all the way to our back garden, lift a heavy black bin on their back and carry it to the dustcart AND return it.

Now they wheel a bin and sing a song whilst they wait for the dustcart to do the work and want more money for the effort.

Rockhopper wrote:
Retaining frontline staff who actually provide a service to the citizens of Southampton is key.
It is at supervisor/manager level where
SCC provide poor value for money to council tax-payers.
These post offer no 'end product' and could easily be cut without any impact on service delivery.

If Frontline staff and services are retained then the electorate will not suffer, the Labour Party blaming the Tories will have no effect and Labour just may not win the General Election. Everything from the strikes under Royston Smith, to the wiping out of paycuts, to the announced redundancies seems to have been orchestrated very carefully. One wonders just who is running the Council.

Many people said the Tory way was the best way for the workers but were attacked by other posters.
Royston said Pay cuts & minimum redundancies?
After ACAS & Industrial actions the council & two unions came to an agreement & to reach it the council would have had to make 80 redundancies & were trying to keep it to non permanent posts but then as history shows one Union denied any such deal & it went on.
No fortnightly collections was what they said (tories) they had a improvement of Townhill estate all sorted Labour halted it then chucked another £50million at it why?
Labour saw what the cut in government money was to be so why promise to restore pay when they knew they couldn't afford to restore it?
All new business rates go to the council so why halt the privately funded Snow dome that would bring in extra revenue?
Williams said he never said fortnightly collections or 1-10 refuse job losses whilst setting up a review of refuse services with a new cabinet post oops! Sorry new cabinet member running it was that another lie then?
This council knew exactly what any council was looking at this year so why lie & accuse the previous administration of mismanagement?
So far all the citizens of this city can see is Labours mismanagement & lies.
Attack my post but read the article first & the proof of Labours inability to run this city is there for all to see

loosehead wrote:
Many people said the Tory way was the best way for the workers but were attacked by other posters.
Royston said Pay cuts & minimum redundancies?
After ACAS & Industrial actions the council & two unions came to an agreement & to reach it the council would have had to make 80 redundancies & were trying to keep it to non permanent posts but then as history shows one Union denied any such deal & it went on.
No fortnightly collections was what they said (tories) they had a improvement of Townhill estate all sorted Labour halted it then chucked another £50million at it why?
Labour saw what the cut in government money was to be so why promise to restore pay when they knew they couldn't afford to restore it?
All new business rates go to the council so why halt the privately funded Snow dome that would bring in extra revenue?
Williams said he never said fortnightly collections or 1-10 refuse job losses whilst setting up a review of refuse services with a new cabinet post oops! Sorry new cabinet member running it was that another lie then?
This council knew exactly what any council was looking at this year so why lie & accuse the previous administration of mismanagement?
So far all the citizens of this city can see is Labours mismanagement & lies.
Attack my post but read the article first & the proof of Labours inability to run this city is there for all to see

It is still early days. If Labour can carry out the cuts with no or little job losses as promised, then I will respect them.

If they make more cuts than was planned under Royston, then they deserve a bashing. Let's see what Labour have to say.

I have time before my Council Tax Bill hits the floor ;-)

Union members have been mugged off big time. The Union fat cats rely on the blind loyalty to use them as cannon fodder to get what they want.

Shoong wrote:
Union members have been mugged off big time. The Union fat cats rely on the blind loyalty to use them as cannon fodder to get what they want.

We all know that, now we want to see what action will be taken.

Will the City Tax Payers suffer again?

IronLady2010 wrote:

Shoong wrote:
Union members have been mugged off big time. The Union fat cats rely on the blind loyalty to use them as cannon fodder to get what they want.

We all know that, now we want to see what action will be taken.

Will the City Tax Payers suffer again?

Isn't there penalties for raising council tax to far?
As I've said previously they promised the stars & now they have to deliver out comes the excuses & who easier to blame than the last council;?
all those on the march against the cuts beware this is a fore taste of what will happen if Labour get into power