The amount of council tax payers’ money being spent on employing full-time union representatives is to be reviewed by the Green administration.
Councillor Ann Norman, the Conservative finance spokesman, raised the issue at the council cabinet meeting on Thursday (14 July), saying that the council employed 8.1 full-time union officials.
And Councillor Norman welcomed the response from her Green counterpart Jason Kitcat.
She highlighted figures in a budget report showing that the new administration was expecting a £120,000 overspend on “central union duties” in the current financial year.
The budget report included the item as part of a projected overspend of £447,000 on human resources (HR) by Brighton and Hove City Council.
Another cause of the shortfall, the report said, was £175,000 in “unachievable income from recruitment advertising and use of the new HR system by external organisations”.
The report added: “Vacancies are being held to try to manage the projected overspend.
“A detailed action plan is under development to address the shortfall and rebase the budget and staffing to match resources to budget.”
Complex
Councillor Kitcat said: “The additional union spend was introduced by the previous [Conservative] administration to support staff in dealing with the complex work on ‘single status’.
“This addressed current and historical differences in pay for men and women doing similar jobs at the council. It was important and difficult work.
“There are still a few areas of work to do on this issue but as it winds down any administration would have had to discuss with unions what appropriate levels of support would be once the ‘single status’ matters had been resolved.”
He added that the Greens were seeking to be as efficient as possible with all areas of the council’s finances.
Councillor Norman said: “We understand that trade union members working for a council need to be represented in the workplace.
“However, I think that, particularly in the current economic climate, it is reasonable to question just how much of this cost is borne by hard-pressed council taxpayers.”
Her fellow Conservative, Councillor Brian Pidgeon, who represents Patcham, plans to ask for more details at the full council meeting on Thursday (21 July).
He wants to know how the council compares to other similar local authorities.
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