Blackburn council pledge to increase wages is criticised (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Typical of this council! Watch this space - our council tax will go up next year.

perhaps those that are complaining about these employees being paid a living wage should take a look around them. They may even see the many, many increases that are and have taken place over the past years. A 40 hour week would give them £288.00 per week pre-tax. At the standard rate it would give them £230.00 to raise the 2.4 children!

I totally support this move.
Many of our population are paid what is the legal "Minimum Wage" but this is nt enough to live a reasonable life in 2012 thefogures now suggested would allow a decent life although not a very generous one.
I only wish our Private employers would take as much tine to consider their workers and agree to offer this absolute minimum stanfard as opposed to the "Legal Minimum Wage".

While it is a noble (but poorly timed) gesture; surely there will be some concern from staff currently on a higher pay grade/job role that are suddenly finding that they are doing additional duties/responsibilit
ies than others on the same pay.

Are we intending to see an increase across the board (bad timing to say the least!) or have the forum an idea about resolving this potential tinder box?

The tax-payers alliance!!! why do people give this (right wing) political pressure group the oxygen to breathe is beyond me!
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How much does Jonathan Isaby earn? I bet its a lot more than £7 per hour.

People have to live, £7.20 per hour is not the greatest wage to earn, I fully applaud BWD council. I notice the usual right wing whingers are the first to complain, I wonder how much their profits are? It is time for people to wake up to the lies and weasel words of the bosses and the government.

Pay peanuts get monkeys. Paying the minimum is a terrible idea if you want to deliver a quality service, so in principal I would say they have it right. The delivery will probably never happen though without cuts in numbers, which again will affect quality.

are they going to pledge to get £1.00 per hour for everyone else too?

Typical Tory boy statement saying that the council should not pay more than for a private sector worker.
Yeah sounds good doesn't it. Then you realise all the minimum wage workers in the private sector are the immagrants this government and the last government brought in to keep the wokers wages down. They want you to live in abject poverty whilst they quaff the champaigne and laugh at your stupidity. Monkeys thats all you are, working for bananas

Mike Damms, chief executive of the East Lancashire Chamber of
Commerce says, '..they should not be paying their staff more than their counterparts in the private sector.”
Oh really?
So you would sooner see a poorer quality service in the area, as the profits are siphoned off to some bank in Lichtenstien then, evading UK tax and publication of profits, as was the case with Biffa bin, until a 'whistle-blower' exposed them?
Do you think for one second that those in the private sector are going to be better paid, with better working conditions, paid holidays and a pension when they are too knackered to work? That's even if they haven't made off with the pension funds before the day to pay out.

Tell you what do, phone up the Council, ask for a week on the bins then ask yourself if you would walk a few miles in his boots for the same money. I know how it is, for I was a binman in Clitheroe, when they used poly bags and I'm here to tell you that it is hard graft. Then there is the distance covered, about 4 miles an hour for an 8 hour day. That's 6 more than a Marathon, every day for 5 days.
In future, I suggest that you engage brain before opening mouth and avoid vacillating on any subject that you patently know nothing about!

would council workers complain if you all got a pay rise off your own bosses,no because it's not made public but if it was made public would council worker's still complain.no because it's nothing to do with anyone else

it's because it's the council people are having a whinge and nothing else

I agree that a wage increase should be given for the lower paid, however, ALL council workers haven't had any wage increase for the past three years.The majority have faced wage cuts but job role increases due to the loss of many colleagues, and all have had to take four unpaid days off per year to try to save money. With more job and service cuts looming, the timing of this could definitely had been better!!!

Its easy. All those who disagree with paying people on £6 an hour a rise to £7 an hour should put their money where their mouth is. They should take thei own pay at £6 an hour to show that the Council is worng and living on £6 an hour is easy.

I expect an announcement from Councillor Michael Lee, Mike Damms and Jonathon Isaby that they will be being paid £6.08 an hour for the next year (at least). Otherwise they are just greedy hypocrites - wanting to keep high wages for themselves but denying decent wages to toehr people.

Of course council workers need a rise, as do all workers, but not, of course the mega-rich and billionaires

turd moor wrote:
would council workers complain if you all got a pay rise off your own bosses,no because it's not made public but if it was made public would council worker's still complain.no because it's nothing to do with anyone else

it's because it's the council people are having a whinge and nothing else

Even if private sector pay rises were made public the council would have absolutely no right to complain as the private sector is not funded by the taxpayer.
If the council workers really believe they are entitled to a better wage then they should look for a job in the private sector and stop complaining that they don't get paid enough.
Brilliant how they can find money for pay rises when they are complaining of cuts to staff and services yet can find the money to treat themselves to a better wage than most of the people that pay their wages, maybe if they did their job properly in the first place then the taxpayers might believe they deserve a pay rise.
Above all remember, you work for the council, you are a servant to the taxpayers of the borough, you are not a member of the royal household or the house of lords and certainly no better than the ordinary worker on the street so suck it up and do your jobs properly!

Rumpole wrote:

turd moor wrote: would council workers complain if you all got a pay rise off your own bosses,no because it's not made public but if it was made public would council worker's still complain.no because it's nothing to do with anyone else it's because it's the council people are having a whinge and nothing else

Even if private sector pay rises were made public the council would have absolutely no right to complain as the private sector is not funded by the taxpayer. If the council workers really believe they are entitled to a better wage then they should look for a job in the private sector and stop complaining that they don't get paid enough. Brilliant how they can find money for pay rises when they are complaining of cuts to staff and services yet can find the money to treat themselves to a better wage than most of the people that pay their wages, maybe if they did their job properly in the first place then the taxpayers might believe they deserve a pay rise. Above all remember, you work for the council, you are a servant to the taxpayers of the borough, you are not a member of the royal household or the house of lords and certainly no better than the ordinary worker on the street so suck it up and do your jobs properly!

The story is talking about a rise from £6.08 to £7.20 an hour!! Do you have issues with your bins being emptied, your streets cleaned / your children supervised whilst on their lunch break at school? These are the people who would get the rise, not the entire public sector / council staff. The people who are making the decision are the ones on ludicrously high wages which don't appear to be affected by this. If the people who would be in line for the raise are on a better wage than people you know, then you need to talk to the authorities as the work force you know are being illegally paid less than the minimum wage.
Get off your high horse, read the article and get your facts straight.

Rumpole wrote:

turd moor wrote: would council workers complain if you all got a pay rise off your own bosses,no because it's not made public but if it was made public would council worker's still complain.no because it's nothing to do with anyone else it's because it's the council people are having a whinge and nothing else

Even if private sector pay rises were made public the council would have absolutely no right to complain as the private sector is not funded by the taxpayer. If the council workers really believe they are entitled to a better wage then they should look for a job in the private sector and stop complaining that they don't get paid enough. Brilliant how they can find money for pay rises when they are complaining of cuts to staff and services yet can find the money to treat themselves to a better wage than most of the people that pay their wages, maybe if they did their job properly in the first place then the taxpayers might believe they deserve a pay rise. Above all remember, you work for the council, you are a servant to the taxpayers of the borough, you are not a member of the royal household or the house of lords and certainly no better than the ordinary worker on the street so suck it up and do your jobs properly!

Why would they have no right to complain? The money that public sector workers spend helps to pay the wages of the private sector.
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Why do you link poor pay in the public sector to pay in the private sector?
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" yet can find the money to treat themselves to a better wage than most of the people that pay their wages..." thats the point these are people on the minimum wage and they will get an extra £1 per hour, do you earnmore than £7 per hour?

Ok, so lets say I earn £20,000 a year.

Minus Tax = £2379
Minus NI = £1488.96

Total = £16132.04

I will obviously pay my mortgage out of this rather than claim housing benefit (housing benefit for a 3 bedroom is £103.85pw x 52 = £5400)

Minus £5400

Total = £10732.04

If I was unemployed I would be able to claim up to £111.45 pw (£111.45 x 52 = £5795.40)

Minus £5795.40

Total = £4936.64

Minus VAT @20% = £987.33 (this should cover added petrol and booze tax V’s food being vat free)

Total = £3949.31

Now I know that these figures are not exact (so please don’t be petty) but the point is that £4855.29 of the £20k goes straight back into the government coffers as tax and when you add the difference between me providing an important service in the public sector and being unemployed we are looking at roughly £3949.31; which is pretty good value for the services we provide for YOU the people.

woollywords i agree with you as i also worked in clitheroe on the bins a few years ago and it is hard graft and i would love to see all those opposed to this increase to get off their lazy fat backsides and try it for a week they would ring in sick after a couple of days.

woollywords i also worked on the bins in clitheroe a few years ago and like you say it is hardwork and out in all weathers and would love to see those opposed to this to get off their fat lazy backsides and try it for a week like you said ,i would give them a day b4 they started whinging and then they would ring in sick because of the work involved.

I agree with the rise, maybe the higher earners should reduce their earnings by £1 per hour to pay for it! You always get some muppet talking about the difference between public and private sector, divide and conquer! The thing is we are ALL taxpayers! EVERYONE deserves a decent wage whoever you work for! Otherwise we will be better off on benefits! I have worked for both private and public sectors and i can tell you that i enjoyed working for the private sector more! Less bureaucracy, red tape and policies and procedures to be tied up in and the forever changes!