Death Wish 2012
The next round of local council elections is only four months away - but recent events in Glasgow suggest Labour councillors are intent on committing political 'hari kari' - in May 2012.
Because the Sunday Herald yesterday revealed that Labour councillors in the city have given a 'golden goodbye' worth £500,000 - to a poverty campaigner in the east end of Glasgow.
Ronnie Saez landed a package worth six times his salary - after being made redundant from his post as chief executive of Glasgow East Regeneration Agency (GERA).
The CEO's deal comprised of a 'severance payment' of £42,000 long with a £470,000 boost to his pension - which included a discretionary £208,000 - thanks to the generosity of Labour councillors on the board.
According to the Sunday Herald - Glasgow's city wide Regeneration Agency later discovered that Saez's deal was unique among the five local Glasgow agencies, that the GERA board failed to consult external auditors or employment advisers, and that Saez received money for both voluntary and compulsory redundancy schemes.
And it's exactly these over-blown, over-generous final salary schemes - which benefit senior officials and the higher paid - that the public sector unions have been trying to keep in place.
By calling low paid workers out on strike to defend the perks and privileges - of senior managers.
The low paid workers who deliver councils services day-in and day-out - don't receive this kind of special treatment - which use inflated salaries to calculate their pensions along with 'discretionary' extra years - added on to boost the size of the final pot.
Oh no - many low paid workers in Glasgow are still struggling to get equal pay.
Thousands of low paid workers were also encouraged to accept poor offers of settlement - worth much less than the real value of their equal pay claims.
Yet Labour councillors are falling over themselves to be extra generous in some parts of the city - when it suits their purpose.
Since leaving GERA, Saez has gone into business and set up a company offering advice on social inclusion and equality - former Labour MSP Frank McAveety was a director of the company until he resigned in October 2011 to stand in the Glasgow City Council elections.
No doubt readers in Glasgow will bear all these events in mind as we get closer to polling day in May.
But this is just another example of a discredited system - with crazy 'rules' that are designed to ensure that people at the top of the pay ladder get a much better deal - than those at the bottom.
Socialist my arse! - and the Labour council in Glasgow along with the unions that prop up the system - should be ashamed of their behaviour.
