Curious Coincidence

Sometimes I despair about The Guardian because the newspaper does publish a lot of dreary self-serving tosh at times such as this piece by a chap called David Walker who is a contributing editor to a pretentiously named body known as the Public Leaders Network and a former director of public reporting at the Audit Commission apparently.

Now the present Coalition Government at Westminster has abolished the Audit Commission in England and Wales and I have some sympathy with that decision, I have to say, because in my experience the equivalent public watchdog in Scotland is worse than useless - about as frightening as being savaged by a dead sheep, as I have said on the blog site before. 

So David Walker's 'credentials' don't impress me but as I read his thoughts on the Police Federation, I was astounded that David had nothing critical to say about the behaviour of this dysfunctional organisation until he reached the final paragraph of his rather hysterical argument about a 'Tory war on trade unions'. 

What a shame The Guardian prints this kind of drivel which seems to me to be driven by people's personal political opinions and one-sided argument. 

Take an example outside the public realm, the great Grangemouth dispute involving Unite being still fresh in the memory, where 'time off to conduct union business' was being roundly abused so much so that one local Unite official devoted much of his time working for the Scottish Labour Party - instead of looking after the interests of grassroots union members.

The plant almost shut as a result of this nonsense and so who would object to any sensible employer ensuring that paid release for people to conduct legitimate union business is not turning into some 'jolly' or a politically motivated campaign.   

As I finished David Walker's piece I decided to see what an internet search would tell me about his background and, lo and behold, he is married to the doyenne of opinion writers at The Guardian - Polly Toynbee.

'What a curious coincidence', I said to myself.   

Theresa May's speech to police signals intensifying Tory war on trade unions

The home secretary wants to destroy the power of the Police Federation – what's going to be next?


By David Walker - The Guardian

Theresa May urged the Police Federation to reform at the union's annual conference. Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters

After Theresa May's warrior queen appearance at the Police Federation, there can be no doubt Tory ministers are gearing up to destroy police trade unionism in its present form.

It's a fair bet that, if they are in power again after next May's general election, they will go after other public sector unions, the Prison Officers Association, Napo, and the Fire Brigades Union; before long even Unison and the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) could be under siege.

The home secretary has a particular agenda based on her personal ambitions in the Tory party, which probably include the leadership. Her controversial speech also chimes with the extraordinary set of measures the government has taken to deprivilege the police. May had the temerity to say something no previous Tory home secretary had admitted: that police numbers had very little to do with the level of crime.

The Cameron government has created elected commissioners to boss chief constables, inserted a hatchet man instead of a chief constable as head of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, run an aggressive review of pay and conditions, and attacked police practice (stop and search) and ethics (Plebgate). In a recent book, the former chief constable of Gloucestershire Tim Brain called it deliberate deprofessionalisation.

But so far it has worked. Since 2011 there have been no riots, so the government has not had to rely on police loyalty. Public opinion, moreover, seems broadly to share May's criticisms of uniformed officers.

So what next? Chris Grayling, at justice, will effectively be rid of Napo, the probation officers' union, if his giant contracting scheme goes ahead and private firms take over the bulk handling of offenders. How many of its 8,000 members would be allowed or could be bothered to organise membership if they were transferred to a private firm, which might be actively hostile to employees getting together to make demands? Another Tory government would surely see another bid to insert private suppliers into offender management, which would eat away at the 31,000 membership of the Prison Officers Association. As for the 41,000 members of the Fire Brigades Union, how many will still have jobs in fire and rescue by 2020?

Mainstream public sector unions already face existential threats from the decline in public sector employment since 2010 and from outsourcing, which is still gathering pace despite the setbacks to Serco and G4S. Might they, in addition, confront a deliberate campaign to marginalise them or even to end collective bargaining?

Ministers have signalled their wishes. Two years ago Eric Pickles announced his intention of ending "corrupt" union practices. The corruption he was referring to was about councils allowing union officials paid office time to conduct union business, and the chorus of attack on public sector unions was joined by the then defence secretary Liam Fox and Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude. Since then, it is true, not a lot has happened. Pickles forced councils to publish certain kinds of information, including how much "facility time" they allowed their union representatives .

The Guardian's Alan Travis recalls Tony Blair naming the Police Federation as the most powerful trade union in the country – a description once upon a time reserved for the National Union of Mineworkers. The federation has, it's true, been beset by internal wrangling and disorganisation. But now we have a Tory government prepared to take on the police and their union. And if the Tories can defeat and disarm the group of public service workers with whom they once so closely identified, what might happen to those public sector staff in local authorities and Whitehall, for whom Conservative governments have never had much affection?

Savaged By Dead Sheep (5 May 2014)

I couldn't resist a word about South Lanarkshire Council - amidst all the recent stories about some of our civic organisations which are very free and cavalier at the way they spend public money.

A day of reckoning is coming for sure and the people responsible will have a lot to answer for - given the way that public funds have been doled out, on some occasions, as if money grows on trees.

But it's also fair to say that right at this moment no one is particularly fearful or wary of Scotland's public spending watchdog, Audit Scotland - whose criticisms, as far as far as I can see, amount to little more than a slap on the wrists.

So, I would get rid of Audit Scotland tomorrow because it's a weak and ineffectual body - and to borrow a phrase from Labour's Denis Healey, being attacked by Scotland's public spending watchdog - is a bit like being savaged by a dead sheep.

Gagging Clauses (15 March 2013)

In recent weeks there has been much comment about the NHS and the practice of senior officials being shown the door - often in controversial circumstances - but with hugely generous exit packages.

More often than not these publicly funded exit packages are accompanied by 'gagging clauses' - which effectively prevent people speaking out about the circumstances surrounding their departure - a practice that is the exact opposite of open and transparent government.

So I thought it would be useful to reproduce a previous post from the blog site on the departure of the former Finance Director - of South Lanarkshire Council.

I think it would be a great public service if senior officials in this situation - like Linda Hardie - came forward to tell their side of the story - because these 'gagging clauses' are offensive to common sense and have no place in any of our public services.

South Lanarkshire Council is up in the UK Supreme Court soon - over its refusal to disclose pay information ordered by the Scottish Information Commissioner - and the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.

I'll have more to say on that subject in the next few days.

Mired in Scandal (6 August 2012)

Well done to the Daily Record for exposing another disgraceful chapter in the life of South Lanarkshire Council.

Here's a story which appeared in the paper last week - and shines a light on the controversial departure of the council's finance chief in April 2011.

To my mind spending £500,000 on a early retirement package for a senior council official - is an obscene waste of public money.

Yet the council fails to offer a proper explanation for its actions and simply brushes aside the criticisms of Scotland's public spending watchdog - Audit Scotland.

If you ask me it's high time the Scottish Government took a long hard look at what's going on inside South Lanarkshire Council - which looks increasingly arrogant and out of control.

Golden goodbye scandal: Council chief pocketed £500k severance package.. after receiving £63k garden leave pay

The Daily Record revealed yesterday the severance package had been paid to finance chief Linda Hardie by Labour-led South Lanarkshire Council.

The council who gave a £500,000 payoff to a boss who “retired” at 50 have been savaged by a financial watchdog for paying her another £63,000 to stay at home.

The Daily Record revealed yesterday the severance package had been paid to finance chief Linda Hardie by Labour-led South Lanarkshire Council.

Hardie’s department lost £100,000 of taxpayers’ money to a fraud scam and made £38million worth of “arithmetical errors” in budget cuts.

Now we can reveal the council have been criticised by the public spending watchdog for allowing Hardie to spend six months on her full £127,000-a-year salary before picking up her massive package.

A report for Audit Scotland says: “There is no documentary evidence to demonstrate value for money for the full pay provided from 18 October, 2010, to 18 April, 2011.”

The report also reveals that Hardie’s deal was approved only by her fellow paid officials, contrary to Audit Scotland’s guidelines, which say elected councillors should be involved in early retirement packages.

That has prompted questions about who exactly is running the council, who are fighting a costly legal battle against their own female staff over equal pay.

Local SNP MSP Christina McKelvie said: “Given that they are dragging their heels over equal pay claims, how could they justify using scarce resources to award such a staggering payoff?

Council leader Eddie McAvoy has some serious questions to answer. Why is it that decisions about early retirement appear to have been left to council management?

Did McAvoy have any knowledge of this golden goodbye and does he think it was appropriate or necessary? The buck stops with the administration, and they now must explain what steps they are taking to avoid such obscene payoffs in future.”

SNP ministers are also demanding answers from the council about the payoff – which saw Hardie receive £106,000 severance plus £427,000 paid into her pension.

McAvoy was abroad on holiday and could not be contacted for comment.

A council spokesman said: “The council followed early retirement approval procedures as detailed in standing orders. The retirement provision was in line with the contract of employment and with general employment law and pension regulations.”

A DINNER LADY'S TALE.

It would take half a century for the average female worker fighting South Lanarkshire Council for equal pay to earn the £500,000 payoff handed to finance chief Linda Hardie.

Hardie took early retirement aged just 50 in April last year but the details of her package have only emerged now.

One dinner lady of 55, who is among those fighting for equal pay, earns £10,000 a year for a 30-hour week – but Hardie will get six times that in pension.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said: “When I saw what she was getting, it made me sick to the pit of my stomach.

"If I worked every day for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t earn the money she has walked away with.

The council have done everything they can to stop us getting a fair deal and just hand over cash like that to someone who made a hash of her job.”

The council are refusing to accept an employment tribunal’s ruling that they must offer the women, including cleaners and dinner ladies, equal pay.

The worker added: “All the money that is being used to fight us is also a waste of taxpayers’ cash because we are not giving up until we win.”

Trust and Betrayal (29 October 2013)

The latest bombshell to be dropped in the long running Grangemouth saga is that the Unite official over whom the union called a damaging strike - has resigned from his job   rather than 'face the music' of a disciplinary hearing.

Here's how the BBC reported the news on its web site, but it has to be said that this is a real hammer blow to Unite's credibility at Grangemouth and elsewhere - another sign, if you ask me, that the union is prepared to play politics with people jobs and livelihoods.

Because why would the union jeopardise the future of the plant for someone who was accused of abusing his position as Unite's local union convener by carrying out  political work for the Labour Party - when he should have been representing union members.  

Unite has been complaining for months about Deans 'treatment' by company management - the inference being that he was being victimised and treated very unfairly - yet when push came to shove the Unite convener failed to defend himself against allegations which were reportedly backed up by hundreds of damning emails sent during working time.

In other words, the company's case was that while they were paying Deans to work for them and represent the interests of ordinary Unite members at the plant - Deans was actually devoting much of his time and energies on political matters to do with the Scottish Labour Party.    

Now if I were a member of Unite, I would be extremely angry at this latest turn of events - in fact I would feel completely betrayed.

To my mind Unite owes its members, the workforce at Grangemouth (who have been through hell recently) and the people of Scotland - a huge apology for trying to make monkeys of us all.   

Unite official Stephen Deans resigns from Grangemouth job

Mr Deans  had worked at Grangemouth for 24 years

The Unite union official at the centre of the Grangemouth industrial dispute has resigned from his job at the facility.

Stephen Deans had been suspended by operator Ineos over claims he used company time for union business.

Ineos had been expected to reveal the outcome of a disciplinary case against him on Tuesday.

The union previously voted for strike action over his treatment, which led to last week's shutdown of the plant.

Mr Deans declined to comment when contacted by BBC Scotland. Unite said it would not comment until officials met union members at Grangemouth.

A statement released by Ineos confirmed Mr Deans had resigned from the company with immediate effect.

It said: "The company has conducted a thorough investigation into Mr Deans' activities over the last 18 months and made Mr Deans aware of these findings last week.

"Mr Deans requested an additional five days prior to the final disciplinary hearing to allow him time to provide any further relevant information.

"The company was due to meet with Mr Deans again tomorrow but has now received his resignation."

'Rigging' claims

Mr Deans, the convener of Unite in Scotland, had worked at Grangemouth for 24 years.

He had been accused of trying to rig the selection of a candidate for Westminster in his role as chairman of the Labour Party in the Falkirk constituency.

It was claimed he signed up dozens of new members for Labour, promising the recruits that Unite would pay their membership fees on the understanding that they would back the union's choice in the contest to select a new candidate to stand for parliament in Falkirk, to replace the disgraced Eric Joyce.

Mr Deans was suspended from the Labour Party but was later cleared by an investigation and reinstated.

“Documents were handed into Falkirk Police Station and will be passed to our electronic crime unit for examination” - Police Scotland

But Ineos carried out its own investigation into allegations that some of the new Labour members had been signed up in the refinery.

The row over his treatment erupted into a vote for strike action which was eventually called off by the union.

But the threat of industrial action led to Ineos shutting down the facility last week - before later announcing the site's petrochemical plant would shut permanently with the loss of 800 jobs.

The company eventually reversed that decision after staff agreed to implement changes to pay, pensions and conditions which Ineos said were necessary to ensure the survival of the petrochemical plant and the neighbouring oil refinery.

Labour MP Michael Connarty, whose Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency includes Grangemouth, said he believed Mr Deans had been the ''subject of victimisation''.

Mr Connarty, who is currently at a conference in Lithuania, said he would be making no further comment until he had spoken to Mr Deans.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: "This is a matter between Stevie Deans and Ineos."

There have been calls for Labour to reopen its investigation into the vote-rigging allegations after the Sunday Times claimed to have seen emails showing Unite had undermined its original inquiry.

The newspaper reports claimed a fresh complaint had been made to police on Friday about the Falkirk Labour Party's handling of its candidate selection.

In a statement, Police Scotland said: "Documents were handed into Falkirk Police Station and will be passed to our electronic crime unit for examination."