Carlos Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Stand by for councilors to begin distancing themselves from the review and start claiming they had no idea what was going on....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Stand by for councilors to begin distancing themselves from the review and start claiming they had no idea what was going on....... They'd probably be telling the truth and all.... The reason(s) they had no idea are probably as diverse as our weather, but no reason is a valid one in their shoes. Unless the May elections makes sure only people who want to know what's going on, are capable of understanding what is going on, and make it their business to know what's going on at all times, in their names, and by default the names of everyone in Shetland, get elected. The longer this badly written poorly acted Ealing type comedy we know as "local government" is going to continue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheesht Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 A change of tack on here? http://www.shetlandtoday.co.uk/shetlandtimes/content_details.asp?ContentID=21589 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fratelli Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 We have been advised in our office that Single Status may well be postponed until after elections, "to allow time for it to be looked into thoroughly" What is actually meant is the councillors are so scared of falling out of favour with the voters who are affected by this, they are planning to ensure they remain in office before taking any of this up. According to one councillor who shall remain nameless, many of the other councillors are too pre-occupied with 3 May to deal with SS at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twerto Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 you maybe right Fratelli.. but i think if the rumors are true then the right thing has been done. and we cant really slag the councillors until we see what happens in 6 months time.. edit: the one thing that make this sound genuine ( if thats the right word ) is that the worker appear to have the backing of tavish scott who is not effected by the elections i believe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fratelli Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Also I find it rather disgusting that Morgan Goodlad thought this would be an ideal time to go on a ski-ing holiday. Nothing like clearing out when the sh*t hits the fan eh? Sorry rant over... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twerto Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Also I find it rather disgusting that Morgan Goodlad thought this would be an ideal time to go on a ski-ing holiday. Nothing like clearing out when the sh*t hits the fan eh? Sorry rant over... and Graham Spall is on holiday too on a cruise i believe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fratelli Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 That would be correct Twerto, nothing like a united front eh? And this is absolutely nothing like a united front. Many of the minions are taking a paycut so lets clear off luxury holiday till the dust settles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
humptygrumpty Posted March 2, 2007 Report Share Posted March 2, 2007 Once again Carlos Nail , head , hammer ect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moorit Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Mr Cluness said: "I am concerned that so many people are disappointed with this particular scheme which we have supported in good faith. Does this mean that the Councillors have lost faith in Messrs. Spall, Couper and McLeod ? Should they be invoved in any new process if the Councillors can't now trust them ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dB Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 From what I was hearing on the radio tonight it sounds like another major SIC cockup. How on earth did they ever imagine folk would accept a 25% pay cut is beyond me. They are also not willing to release information on their stats to substantiate their claim that only quarter of staff are getting pay cuts. All sounds a bit dubious to me. I have heard several stories of staff doing exactly the same jobs getting paid different rates !! Others are now getting paid less than the staff they supervise !! No-one will be looking for promotion there !! You couldn't make it up !! I know that a part-time youth worker at Sixty North was on a different grade to a part-time youth worker at Islesburgh. I'm speaking about one person here. Amazing. And there's hundreds more anomalies and errors. One cock-up after another. What I find particularly repugnant is the use of spin, lies, distortion and blackmail by certain SIC employees in very senior positions. If there's any justice their jackets would be on a very shoogly nail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carlos Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 I'm not convinced they will be wanting to look at re-evaluating too many people if this is just going to be a 6 month, wait until the elections are over, pause in the proceedings.It's taken them what, 3 or 4 years to get to this? A quick fix looks optimistic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Siggar Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 Why not let the SIC try to push it through now, and enjoy the clear out in the election. I'm sure members have been given all the facts. As usual they won't have read anything other than the recommendations and now they choose to blame the officials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moorit Posted March 3, 2007 Report Share Posted March 3, 2007 I'm sure members have been given all the facts. As usual they won't have read anything other than the recommendations and now they choose to blame the officials. You must be joking !! As Sandy Cluness said, ''they had supported it in good faith''. The Unions, the SIC Heads of Service and Staff affected haven't been given all the facts despite numerous requests. When the Unions asked for more information, Mr Spall said you have enough information work it out for yourselves. To quote dB above....''What I find particularly repugnant is the use of spin, lies, distortion and blackmail by certain SIC employees in very senior positions. '' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted March 8, 2007 Report Share Posted March 8, 2007 From the Shetland News - http://www.shetland-news.co.uk 8 March, 2007 THREE trade unions joined forces last night (Wednesday) to call on Shetland Islands Council to withdraw its controversial single status pay offer and return to the negotiating table. A two page letter signed by Unison, GMB and TGWU unions has been handed in to the office of council convener Sandy Cluness, yesterday. Under the single status offer, made by the council 10 days ago, more than half of Unison's member would lose out with many council officers in line for a 30 to 45 percent drop in their salaries. Meanwhile councillor Gussie Angus has tabled a motion for the next meeting of the full council that seeks the suspension of the current single status offer and an independent review of the evaluation process. Mr Angus' move follows comments from council convener Sandy Cluness last Friday, when he said that he was prepared to call a special council meeting to allow the pay offer to be withdrawn. More than 400 Unison members showed their anger and disgust with the council's pay offer yesterday lunchtime when they attended the union's AGM at the Clickimin Leisure Complex. They unanimously agreed two motions expressing their lack of confidence in the council's single status process and backing the joint letter to Shetland Islands Council. Branch chairman Brian Smith said after the meeting: "Single status is a good thing but the way this council is trying to introduce it is disastrous. We want them to go back to the negotiating table and discuss this rationally, for a change. "No sane employer is trying to reduce the wages of a large sector of its staff, especially lower paid staff, in this way. It has to be withdrawn and be replaced with something rational. "What the unions are saying is 'What you have come up with is unacceptable; we need to go back to the beginning, renegotiate this, work out what went wrong, put in something that is fair to everybody, so that everybody is happy with single status'." Mr Smith added that since the council had made its offer at the end of February, more than 150 council staff had signed up as new Unison members. The trade union has now more than 1,000 members among Shetland Islands Council staff. Councillor Angus said as an employer he could not back what he described as a "seriously flawed process". And he aired his anger over the way the council has managed to steer itself into a situation that made that local authority look like a "colonial tea planter". He said: "We attended a detailed briefing two weeks ago in which we were assured the process was robust, that it had been subject to quality assurance tests and had passed it with flying colours, that 75 percent of staff were winners and low paid workers were getting rises in their salaries. "We were advised that a small number, about 25 per cent, were losers, but that there were only a few significant losers with salary reductions of about 20 per cent. "We were told that there were no grounds for anybody to complain about the system, and on that basis most of the councillors felt very optimistic." Mr Angus said he was very unhappy with the way councillors had been treated. "The upbeat presentation we were given is in stark contrast to the reality, which is that there seem to be considerably more than 25 per cent losers, and some very significant losers. I have one case here were somebody is set to lose 45 per cent." He added: "A service organisation such as the Shetland Islands Council can't function with a pissed off staff." His motion reads: "Shetland Islands Council resolves to suspend the current single status staff salary negotiations pending and independent review of the system and process of job evaluation in consultation with staff and unions affected." It has been signed by Mr Angus himself, and councillors Drew Ratter, Frank Robertson, Iris Hawkins, Josie Simpson and John Nicolson. The next full council meeting is scheduled for 28 March, but it now appears almost certain that a special SIC meeting will be called next week. Superb quote from Gussie.....pretty much sums the whole debacle up perfectly!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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