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Islington Tribune - by JAMIE WELHAM
Published: 8 February 2008

Cllr Catherine West

Manchester move may cost 60 council jobs

Unions outraged, but council promise consultation

MORE than 60 council staff from the parking department and call centre could lose their jobs if proposals to relocate them to Manchester are agreed.
Backroom workers from the parking department and Contact Islington – the call centre which provides local information for residents – could be moved to Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester as part of a cost cutting strategy.
Union officials are outraged at the revelation, which emerged at a meeting between council leaders and Unison and GMB unions last week.
The council denies that staff will be forced out of work but claims that using offices in Ashton-under-Lyne makes financial sense.
The unions claim that 19 staff from the parking department have already been given an ultimatum: move to Ashton or lose your jobs.
Andrew Berry from Unison said: “Rumours were flying around before the announcement.
“Staff in the parking department have already been told they will move to Manchester in two months. As we understand it, if they don’t move they will be made redundant. Its a fait accompli.
“Our position is clear. Inevitably there will be redundancies and as one of the borough’s biggest employers, the council should not be denying opportunities to local people.
“We need these jobs in the borough. They are an important source of entry level jobs for school leavers and recent graduates.”
Islington Council already has 25 staff from the housing benefits department who were relocated to Ashton-under-Lyne two years ago.
Mr Berry went on to say that the proposals smacked of penny pinching and could be the thin end of the wedge.
He said: “Obviously they have two incentives to do this. If the jobs were in Manchester then they wouldn’t have to pay London weighting, which is about £3,000 a head.
“Secondly the parking department is based near Old Street. They would save a serious amount of money if they could get out of there and get cheaper rent in Manchester.”
Labour leader Catherine West said she deeply worried by the situation. She said: “We would want assurances that if these workers live in the borough then they will be given other jobs within the council.
“It’s not right that the council talk about working for local people and then take their jobs from under them.”
Councillor John Gilbert, executive member for Human Resources, said: “In the past we’ve successfully used Ashton to provide good service and value for money for our residents, and a stable workforce for back office posts, for which it had previously been hard to recruit permanent staff.
“This office has now been in place for 18 months and because it has worked so well, we are now looking to extend it to other areas.
“We are still looking into this and obviously before we make any decision existing staff and their trade unions will be fully consulted.”

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