Southampton city council faces further strikes over job cuts

Unions warn of ‘strategic campaign’ of industrial action after leaked council document reveals plans to axe 1,200 jobs Union officials have warned council leaders across the UK that they face targeted strikes on key public services if they attempt to push through drastic cost cuts without adequate consultation, as a standoff between Britain’s two largest unions and a local authority enters its third month of industrial action. Hundreds of workers at Southampton city council – including parking wardens, bridge toll collectors and port health officers – embarked on a new week-long strike on Monday to protest against a pay cut of up to 5.5% imposed by the Conservative-led local authority on 4,600 staff. The joint action by local members of Unite and Unison has singled out the council’s revenue-generating services such as parking and road tolls, rather than staging mass walkouts. Strikes have been taking place since 23 May. A senior Unite official said the Southampton walkouts marked a “strategic campaign” by unions. Last month council-employed refuse collectors walked out in Southampton as the unions rotated industrial action. “The unions are looking at a strategic campaign where we are using selective action,” said Ian Woodland, a Unite regional officer. “It is not just bringing everyone out, which is the old-fashioned view, but bringing out key workers that will have an effect on the state nationally and locally. We have shown how it can be done locally.” He added: “We have picked sections of workers that have an effect. It will either affect the council’s income stream or it will cause people to complain and put pressure on the council.” Unite and Unison believe Southampton could be a harbinger for other local authorities and are determined to stop further compulsory changes. As in Southampton, Shropshire council has “fired” thousands of employees and re-hired them on less pay. Southampton city council has pushed through the pay cut by serving notice on its employees and replacing their contracts with new terms and conditions, including lower pay and cuts in petrol allowances for social workers. As of Monday’s deadline for accepting those contracts, about 97% of staff have switched to their new deals rather than face redundancy because the notice period on their previous contract has expired. Unison’s regional organiser, Andy Straker, said initial fears over the appetite for opposition to the changes – the strike ballots were only 51% and 56% in favour at Unite and Unison respectively – had been assuaged. “We have been surprised by how many groups are contacting us and want to go out [on strike].” On Monday morning Southampton’s port was hit by a walkout by health officers, who must certify food imports such as spices, rice and fish. Their week-long strike is expected to lead to delivery delays for food containers that would have been bound for supermarkets such as Iceland and Sainsbury’s. Ged Burden, 44, one of the officers on strike, said repeated walkouts could see companies switch their business to rival ports. “One of the joys of working in this part of the public sector is working with small businesses or entrepreneurs and making a real difference, because it can cost people money if you don’t do your job well. And that’s the downside for us today. It is hugely disappointing to jeopardise our relationship with them.” He added: “If the action carries on it could get to the point where businesses start to think ‘stuff Southampton, I will go to Felixstowe’.” Burden said council workers had to “take a stand” to show the council that they wanted a 21st-century public sector but “this is not the way to do it”. The Conservative leader of Southampton city council has warned there will be “some redundancies” over the next four years among the authority’s 4,600 staff because budgets are “very tight”. Speaking on BBC News, Royston Smith said the enforced pay cut would save up to 400 jobs this year and dismissed a Unite claim that 1,200 jobs would be at risk over the next four years, according to a leaked internal document. “I don’t know where that document came from,” he said. The authority has pitted its wiles against Unite and Unison in an attempt to keep services running this week. Eight “mega-bins” have been put in the town centre to prevent rubbish from overflowing and managers are taking over the roles of road toll collectors and parking wardens. However, a town hall spokesman admitted there had been some disruption. “Generally we have been able to put resources into running most of the services today. But there has been significant disruption across the city, particularly in regards to waste building up across Southampton.” Public sector cuts Local government Unite Trade unions Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk

Posted by on July 11, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.