Angry Blackburn teacher says staff seriously misled over redundancies

6:30pm Saturday 16th June 2012 in Hyndburn

AN angry Blackburn teacher has told councillors and senior officers that he and fellow staff were “seriously misled” over job losses.

Peter Rush told Blackburn-with-Darwen Council’s Cabinet that the impact on classroom workers of a major school building programme was covered-up until it was too late to stop compulsory job losses.

The 59-year-old NAS/UWT union representative tackled the local authority’s top brass on the issue when they discussed a petition signed by more than 80 teachers, teaching assistants and school support staff.

He told Council Leader Kate Hollern, chief executive Graham Burgess, children’s services boss Maureen Bateson and the rest of the authority’s executive board that when unions and staff wanted to discuss the job impact of the borough’s Building Schools for the Future programme and associated school closures/mergers, they were repeatedly told by officers there would be no redundancies only redeployment.

And he said a report in response to the petition being endorsed by the senior councillors continued that cover-up.

Mr Rush, a teacher at Crosshill School, said: “We were misled by officers and the council. We were repeatedly told that there would be no redundancies and this was a redeployment situation. When we tried to discuss redundancies we were told we could not discuss a hypothetical situation. We were seriously misled.”

But Coun Hollern and Mr Burgess pointed to a joint statement by the council and unions in April 2008 which said: “It is agreed that the closure of these schools is a potential redundancy situation and as such will be handled with the appropriate procedures.”

Mr Rush, who is facing compulsory redundancy himself, said no-one on the union side remembered either the alleged meeting or the statement referred to in the council report.

Coun Hollern said the statement was there in black and white, adding: “We were never able to guarantee that all people would get a job.”

Coun Bateson told him: “Originally there were 202 staff affected by possible redundancy. Now there are 63 staff who still face possible compulsory redundancy. That means 75 per cent of the staff affected have been found jobs, taken voluntary redundancy or retired.”

Comments (4)

8:08pm Sat 16 Jun 12

Excluded again says...

Hmmm. In September 2008 the world entered the most severe recession since the 1930s. We are still feeling the after effects now.

No-one in April 2008 was predicting a recession as deep and as long as the one which happened, nor the scale of the public sector cuts which were to follow.

I think that if Blackburn with Darwen Councillors and officers were, in fact, the only people able to predict this deep recession in the world (in other words if their statements in April 2008 were deliberately misleading) they are being worngly employed. They need to be put in charge of the world economy now.

Or maybe they were just overtaken by economic events like the rest of us.
Hmmm. In September 2008 the world entered the most severe recession since the 1930s. We are still feeling the after effects now. No-one in April 2008 was predicting a recession as deep and as long as the one which happened, nor the scale of the public sector cuts which were to follow. I think that if Blackburn with Darwen Councillors and officers were, in fact, the only people able to predict this deep recession in the world (in other words if their statements in April 2008 were deliberately misleading) they are being worngly employed. They need to be put in charge of the world economy now. Or maybe they were just overtaken by economic events like the rest of us. Excluded again

10:55pm Sat 16 Jun 12

Smoking Area says...

The council could always provide a copy of the minutes of meetings in which the union attended.
The council could always provide a copy of the minutes of meetings in which the union attended. Smoking Area

8:59am Sun 17 Jun 12

mavrick says...

Peter you have been shafted, simples
Peter you have been shafted, simples mavrick

11:06am Mon 18 Jun 12

ossym says...

Peter, welcome to a taste of the real world (unfortunately).

People working in industry have been layed off (or forced out) into a decimated labour market for years with little effective recourse.

Teaching staff strike to protect their gold plated pensions forcing the rest of us in the real world to take time off work which we can ill afford to do (unlike most teachers it seems).

So I do not have much symapthy I am afraid.

Teachers work for schools in which parents feel at the mercy of teachers to treat their children fairly and properly, any dissent seems to threaten that.

Unfortunately it is not like the private sector where you simply go to another shop.

At least you dont have to compete against 3rd world sweat shops to make a living.
Peter, welcome to a taste of the real world (unfortunately). People working in industry have been layed off (or forced out) into a decimated labour market for years with little effective recourse. Teaching staff strike to protect their gold plated pensions forcing the rest of us in the real world to take time off work which we can ill afford to do (unlike most teachers it seems). So I do not have much symapthy I am afraid. Teachers work for schools in which parents feel at the mercy of teachers to treat their children fairly and properly, any dissent seems to threaten that. Unfortunately it is not like the private sector where you simply go to another shop. At least you dont have to compete against 3rd world sweat shops to make a living. ossym

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