Glasgow City Council

I had to laugh when I caught sight of the Daily Record yesterday.

This Labour supporting paper ran two stories about the public sector pensions strike - which were  contradicatory and completely at odds with each other.  

The first headline attacked the government for its proposed pension reforms - which were of course drawn up by John Hutton - work and pensions Minister in the last Labour government.

The second attacked the 'golden goodbyes' paid to senior council officials in Glasgow - a story which the Daily Record has shamelessly lifted from the Sunday Herald.

But what no one has had the guts to say is that the strike is about defending the final salary pension schemes - which allowed senior officials in Glasgow to walk out the door with these  huge pensions benefits.

Which the people involved haven't actually earned - lower paid council staff and the taxpayer are picking up the bill for this generosity.

No wonder the Daily Record sales have gone through the floor in recent years - for  serious journalism and intelligent reporting - you need to look eslehwere.

Headline 1
Scotland set for biggest strike since the 1970s as 300,000 public service workers walk out in protest at Con-Dem attack on pensions

Headline 2
Glasgow City Council forks out nearly £800k in 'golden goodbyes' as staff pay freeze continues

Eight bosses at Glasgow City Council have been paid £738,000 in "golden goodbyes" while staff suffer a pay freeze.

Three of them walked away with early retirement lump sums of more than £100,000.

Chief solicitor Ian Drummond got £109,303 "compensation for loss of office" plus an annual £11,040 payment.

And Steve Inch, the council's "regeneration tsar", left with £109,279 plus a yearly sum of £11,032.

Inch's assistant director, Jim Cunningham, walked away with £82,741 plus an annual sum of £7853.

Wendy O'Donnell, an area education manager for south-west Glasgow, got £70,297 and £6935 a year.

Dawn Corbett, who was head of corporate policy, left with £48,044 and a £6571 annual payment.

And Fergus Chambers, head of care and catering firm Cordia, got a £101,662 exit payment plus annual compensation of £11,032.

Disgraced chief executive Steven Purcell set up Cordia and other publicly owned companies to provide council services during his reign.

Glasgow MSP Bill Kidd of the SNP said the huge payouts seemed "wrongheaded" at a time when most public servants were being told to work longer and pay more for worse pensions.

But the council said the pay-offs, offered to all employees over 50, were the fairest way to cut staff at a time of massive pressure on their budgets.

The council have spent millions on similar payments since 2009.

City treasurer Paul Rooney said: "With local government facing unprecedented cuts, we cannot sustain the staff numbers we once had.

"The same offer has been made to all staff at every level - the overwhelming majority of those that will benefit from the scheme sit in the lower half of the pay grades."

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