Richard Baum

Some good news today for the many hundreds of Bury Council staff adversely affected by the job evaluation process that’s going on at the moment. Intervention by Bury Liberal Democrats has led to concessions by the Conservative Council, with the news that council staff set to lose money after job evaluation will be allowed to attend their appeals in person.

Prior to the meeting of Full Council on Wednesday 10th September, the Conservative Executive had been clear that no personal hearings would be granted. However, at the meeting last Wednesday I asked for this policy to be reconsidered, the Council’s Chief Executive today sent a letter to all staff informing them that personal appeals would now be allowed.

Naturally we are pleased that the Conservatives have finally seen sense. Staff should of course be allowed to attend these appeals, where massive chunks of their salary are at stake. We have always been clear that we want a transparent, open process, and we are glad to have convinced the Tories of this.

At the Council meeting, the Labour group chose to display their unhappiness at Job Evaluation by walking out of the meeting. Liberal Democrats stayed to oppose the Conservatives in a sensible way. I asked for the appeals process to be reconsidered, and now it has been. I will continue to try to make this process as fair as possible, and challenge every instance of unfairness that we see. I hope the Conservatives continue to make concessions where they’re necessary, and continue to be open to constructive challenge.

Rick