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Unison calls on Fife Council’s SNP group to stop the ‘party politicking’ and protect jobs

Unison calls on Fife Council’s SNP group to stop the ‘party politicking’ and protect jobs

Fife Council Joint Trade Unions have called on SNP councillors to stop playing politics with their members’ jobs.

The call comes on the back of the SNP group leader’s announcement that he has submitted a Freedom of Information request for information on council officials’ ideas for budget cuts.

As a councillor, Peter Grant already has access to that information but he has gone down the legal route to make the information public.

Unison branch secretary Debbie Thompson was astonished by Mr Grant’s request for the release of the ”Blue Book”, which contains details of officials’ advice on the likely impact of all the savings they had put forward for consideration.

”The proposals in the Blue Book are a series of suggestions from senior officers and the vast majority of these will, quite rightly, never see the light of day,” she said.

”What is guaranteed if this information was put in the public domain is that we will have hundreds of employees worrying if their jobs are at risk unnecessarily.

”I understand that Mr Grant wants to create difficulty for the minority administration but it is not the administration he will harm by this move.

”Our members and Fife Council employees deserve better than this.

”It is abhorrent to me and my trade union colleagues that the politics of this supercedes the best interests and duty of care to the thousands of employees in Fife.”

She added that the trade unionists to whom she had spoken did not support Mr Grant’s position.

She said that colleagues found it strange that in the past few years the Blue Book ”had to be treated with utmost secrecy.”

”The Blue Books referred to were constructed for the previous administration.

”We were sworn not to divulge any details to our members to ensure that there was no panic and insecurity of staff created as a result. What has changed?

”We would appeal to Mr Grant and his SNP group to stop this kind of party politicking and, instead, work with the other councillors to find the best way forward that will protect jobs and services against the horrendous cuts facing Fife Council.”

Mr Grant said he had absolutely no argument with unions or the council’s workforce.

”I’ve made it clear that I’ve turned to the FOI Act, as any citizen is entitled to do, as a last resort.

”I’ve been forced into this course of action by the minority Labour group who unilaterally and without any consultation decided to change the rules about how the council consults on its budget.

”The way they’ve acted is not what the SNP group would have wanted and I’m certain it’s not what the unions wanted, but the fact is that Labour have thrown out the rules that used to apply.

”As leader of the opposition, I have a responsibility to the whole council to make sure the administration’s policies and proposals are properly examined.

”Labour have chosen to hold what they call a consultation on their proposed budget.

”It’s my job to make sure their consultation is fair and open.

”It can’t possibly be fair and open if people only get the information the minority Labour group chooses to give them.”

He added the act still allowed the council to withhold exempt information.

”If there are genuine concerns that releasing some details would be against the interests of the people of Fife, then I would expect the council to seek to exclude those details from the information they release.”

leclark@thecourier.co.uk