Council leadership crisis
Repair relations with unions, backbenchers tell city leader Ian Ward ‘Officers running council’ rather than political masters, claims letter
been expressed in front of Cllr Jones, who is a member of the board.
The dual challenges from within their own party come as the city battles to push through a difficult budget, faces discontent over the funding of the 2022 Commonwealth Games and tries to see off the improvement panel which was forced on the city in the wake of the damning Kerslake Report.
How Cllr Ward and Cllr Jones, and the rest of the cabinet team, respond to this open challenge from within their own party could decide their future.
A turning point in the care workers dispute came when home care workers tried to deliver a card to Cllr Ward portraying him as Scrooge and ended up being locked out of the Council House by security staff.
The unedifying spectacle of women being kept out of the council’s HQ was the final straw for some Labour members, who said it was a symbol of the council’s approach to the dispute.
Eight of the city’s Labour MPs have also got involved, expressing their concern over the dispute in a letter to Cllr Ward last month.
The latest development, which almost certainly triggered this week’s letter, was a message seen by Birmingham Post, sent by adult social care lead Cllr Paulette Hamilton, giving a final deadline of Tuesday for the union to accept the deal on the table or face it being imposed on workers. “AS Members of Birmingham City Council’s ruling Labour Group we are deeply concerned at the position of the council in relation to the present industrial disputes being followed by members of Unite the
Union and Unison.
“The current industrial action being pursued by waste management workers is the latest example of poor industrial relations in the local authority.
“The people of Birmingham are best served by a city council that works in partnership with its workforce to deliver exceptional public services. We believe there is an urgent need to change the approach being taken by senior council officers in conjunction with the cabinet.
“The fact that the authority is reaching for Tory anti-union legislation which the Labour Party is committed to replacing with a new framework of workers’ rights and collective bargaining only exacerbates the situation.
“At the same time it is apparent that the council is on the verge of seeking to impose settlement terms on the enablement service staff having failed over a 15-month period to resolve a dispute where low-paid workers face dramatic pay cuts. These approaches are neither necessary nor desirable.
“We believe that there is a wider issue of governance that is highlighted by the approach that is being taken to the various industrial disputes which the council currently faces.
“It is our belief that in Birmingham the elected councillors are not setting the agenda which gives rise to the current state of affairs.
“It is apparent to us from the content and tenor of the reports that are being brought forward to the executive in relation to the current industrial disputes that senior officers are being allowed to drive a particular approach to industrial relations which gives rise to confrontation and disharmony.
“In making this statement we are calling on the leader, cabinet and wider Labour Group of Birmingham City Council to immediately step back from the current approach to the on-going industrial disputes and to reset the relationship with the workforce and their trade union representatives.”