Sign or you're sacked

Council leader Rod Hills signalled today he had run out of patience with local union bosses who had still not agreed terms and conditions of work for their members under the so-called Single Status Agreement.

Quizzed whether a leaked council briefing document obtained by the Evening Press effectively meant staff were to be told "sign or you're sacked", he said: "That is indeed true."

The threat was denounced today by the local branch of the public services union Unison as "inoperable, untrue and ill-judged".

Branch convenor Peter Household, who claims the new contracts could mean some of the poorest-paid council staff losing hundreds of pounds a year, said the threat would cause immense ill-feeling among staff.

He added: "If large numbers of people refuse to sign, what are they going to do? Lock the doors on them when they turn up for work?"

The new contracts, which introduce lower mileage allowances, overtime and weekend pay rates for council staff, are expected to be sent out to every one of the council's 6,000-or-so employees within the next couple of weeks.

They will come into force on February 1 next year.

The contracts are part of the nationally-agreed Single Status Agreement which aims to bring blue-collar employees' terms of employment in line with those of their white-collar colleagues.

To do that their working week will have to be reduced from 39 hours to 37 hours - without any loss of pay.

Coun Hills insisted today the new contracts, which aim to claw back £600,000 of the £800,000 cost of the agreement, had been agreed nationally and at regional level with unions. It was only the York branch of Unison which continued to resist them.

He said: "This is York people's money that they (Unison) are playing with. Services are provided for the residents of the city, not for Unison members. We've negotiated in good faith and they've just ratted on us."

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