UNIONS are threatening industrial action after accusing Cheshire West and Chester Council of “bullying” more than 7,500 staff into agreeing to new terms and conditions which the authority claims will help maintain front line services and protect jobs.
The authority says 83% of the council’s workforce have signed up and that this will ensure around £4m is returned to the public purse.
CWaC is introducing a new contract to equalise terms and conditions which vary greatly among employees of the four previous authorities absorbed into the unitary council on Local Government Reorganisation.
Those covered in the new agreement range from car lease schemes and allowances to shift premiums, overtime rates and mileage payments to allowances for weekend and ‘on-call’ working.
Staff who had not signed by the deadline – November 11 – will now be dismissed from their current contracts – but offered the same job on the new terms any time before April 1.
But there has been an angry response from the Council Joint Trade Unions whose spokesman Ray McHale said: “The council seems to think their bullying campaign to force staff to accept new terms and conditions has been successful.
“Over the coming months, before they are implemented, the council trade unions will be fighting these proposals with industrial action and through legal challenges.
“Our members are very angry, and this matter is far from over.”
Councillor Alan McKie, chairman of the council’s staffing committee, said: “I sincerely regret we have not been able to reach agreement with the trade unions.”
