{"id":15917,"date":"2018-08-09T16:03:13","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T15:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15917"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:18","slug":"somerset-county-council-unpaid-leave-plan-slammed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15917","title":{"rendered":"Unpaid leave plan slammed"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Cash-strapped Somerset county council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan to ask its workforce to take\u00c2\u00a0 two days unpaid leave in each of the next two years is a result of its own financial incompetence, Unite said today (August 9).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The West Country council has proposed that staff take two days of compulsory unpaid leave over the Christmas holidays in both 2018 and 2019 which could save \u00c2\u01411m over the two-year period.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Unite said that it will be recommending to its members to reject the plan when it is put to the workforce in a ballot next month.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis crisis is entirely of this Tory-controlled council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own making,&#8221; said Unite acting regional secretary for the south west Steve Preddy. &#8220;If it had taken the advice of its financial advisors and raised council tax in line with inflation in recent years, the budget would now be running a surplus.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYet again, hardworking and dedicated council employees, who keep vital services running 24\/7, 365 days a year, are being asked to bear the brunt of this council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s managerial incompetence.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSince 2010, council staff, not just in Somerset, but across England, have been targeted by the Tory government with years of pay austerity,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd now when Theresa May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s government has indicated that it was allegedly\u00c2\u00a0 relaxing its attitude to public sector pay, here in Somerset, the true ugly face of Conservatism has been revealed with this move to salami slice holidays.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is a step too far and Unite, along with the other local government unions, will be resisting this mean-minded move. This is the thin end of the wedge.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe actions of this authority are a wake-up call for the people of Somerset that local government as they know it is under severe threat \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and the unpaid leave plan is the latest manifestation of this unpleasant direction of travel.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cash-strapped Somerset county council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan to ask its workforce to take\u00c2\u00a0 two days unpaid leave in each of the next two years is a result of its own financial incompetence, Unite said today (August 9). &nbsp; The West Country council has proposed that staff take two days of compulsory unpaid leave over the Christmas holidays [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[349,635],"wps_subtitle":"Somerset county council\u00c2\u00a0staff asked to pay for council's 'financial incompetence'","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15917"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25977,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15917\/revisions\/25977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}