New contracts for Shropshire Council staff

Under the new working conditions council staff will face a 5.4% pay cut over two years along with other working condition changes which include the halving of the sick leave entitlement from one year to six months.

Ongoing negotiations between Shropshire Council and the trade unions UNITE, GMB and UNISON continued yesterday towards reaching a collective agreement over the new employment terms.

Speaking of the meeting, Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said:

“I am extremely pleased that we have managed to reach a point in our negotiations that we all now feel comfortable with. We have always said we would be flexible about the detail of the new terms and conditions provided that they achieved the necessary savings, and all parties have come up with some really useful ideas to help us move forward.

“The council has had extremely tough savings targets imposed on it, and we have no choice but to meet those targets. However, we have done all we can to work with all of the unions to reach a compromise which I think demonstrates how much we value our staff and the excellent work they do for the people of Shropshire.”

Alan James, Shropshire UNISON branch secretary, said:

“I am really glad talks have continued following last week’s meeting. We have met with the leader of the council and officers today and we now have a proposal that we can put to our members. The discussions have been open and productive. We feel these proposals are a step forward for staff, whilst still helping to make the massive savings that the council is required to achieve.”

Joan Clarke, from GMB, and Di Phillips, branch chair from UNITE said:

“We have continued to negotiate from the outset. Although our members aren’t comfortable with the changes there is an understanding of the council predicament. The negotiations will continue focusing on year two of the cuts and to a degree we are confident that we can reach an agreement.”

Shropshire Council say changes being made to employee’s working terms and conditions are designed to avoid making 500 staff redundant.

Last Thursday, members of UNISON who are employed by Shropshire Council took industrial action over the new working conditions. The strike closed a number of Council Services including customer service points, day centres, highway depots, leisure centres, libraries and the Shirehall.