Union welcomes lollipop U-turn
THE union backing Birmingham’s lollipop ladies in their battle against the axe has cautiously welcomed a guarantee of £750,000 funding towards the road safety service.
After placing the school crossing wardens under threat of redundancy for two years running, council bosses decided to back the service going into the 2017/18 budget - with funding earmarked.
An Active Child Trust charity has also been set up, kickstarted with a £100,000 funding pot, to help schools and parents develop their own road safety schemes such as walking buses.
But the GMB union, which has successfully battled to save Birmingham’s 180 school crossing wardens, said it still has concerns as the Labour-run council has not discussed how the scheme will work with staff or union representatives.
Union regional organiser Gill Whittaker said: “GMB cautiously welcome the announcement securing the funding for a further two years for these very low paid and hardworking workforce that ensures the safety of Birmingham’s children going forward. The council has said that schools will be able to apply for up to £1,000 of this funding to look at safety measures but we know the cost of a school crossing warden is in excess of this by about five times this amount.
“The council have also said that it is looking at introducing speed limited of 20 mph around schools but it has not said who will enforce this and how.
“Whilst any announcement of funding is welcome the council needs to sit down with the trade unions to work through how this money is going to spent in the most appropriate manner and not just giving it away to whoever may apply as we need to ensure that the school cost for patrols are secured for much longer than two years.”