County council reduces number of top-earning staff (From Lancaster And Morecambe Citizen)

If we can now manage without all these highly paid members of staff why were they employed on such outrageous salaries in the first place? Fabulous severance pay offs no doubt, courtesy of the taxpayer. I will give good odds that they do not find private sector jobs half as generous, but then private companies have to live within their means.

Well since I've been the one shouting the loudest for something to happen, I can only say a sincere and heart felt well done.

Lancs county council has got to be applauded here. They are showing we are all in this together. Good effort.

oldblue wrote:
If we can now manage without all these highly paid members of staff why were they employed on such outrageous salaries in the first place? Fabulous severance pay offs no doubt, courtesy of the taxpayer. I will give good odds that they do not find private sector jobs half as generous, but then private companies have to live within their means.

All that's true of course, but as Tesco's executives say, every little helps.

The Lancashire Telegraph recently reported that Lancashire County Council had lost between 1500 and 5,376 staff (depending on whom you believe), therefore, it only makes sense that some of these posts are going to be people earning over £50,000.

Some of these staff will be project managers of services that where deemed ‘not essential’, yet where there to try to improve and develop OUR society.

It will also mean that the remaining staff will have more work to do which increases the likelihood of mistakes, sometimes at the cost of our most vulnerable in society. Obviously, this will no doubt be their fault and not the cost cutting of a political setup nobody voted for…

Some may cheer this event and some may morn it’s passing, but it’s the increasingly decimated North West that looses out in the end.

Remember that when the ConDems cuts eventually something that matters to you…

jack daniels wrote:
The Lancashire Telegraph recently reported that Lancashire County Council had lost between 1500 and 5,376 staff (depending on whom you believe), therefore, it only makes sense that some of these posts are going to be people earning over £50,000.

Some of these staff will be project managers of services that where deemed ‘not essential’, yet where there to try to improve and develop OUR society.

It will also mean that the remaining staff will have more work to do which increases the likelihood of mistakes, sometimes at the cost of our most vulnerable in society. Obviously, this will no doubt be their fault and not the cost cutting of a political setup nobody voted for…

Some may cheer this event and some may morn it’s passing, but it’s the increasingly decimated North West that looses out in the end.

Remember that when the ConDems cuts eventually something that matters to you…

You are just plain wrong, and this shouldn't have been an article about bickering, so why have you made it so?

I can only assume you are a high level union rep, i.e. the worst fat cats going - greed, greed, greed - with zero regard for the poor hard working man on the street, who has no pension but you still want to bleed him dry. You are a disgrace to those poor people.

Everyone knows that council management is so bloated it might pop. These redundancies prevented the problem popping, but it still hasn't addressed the still massive problem of too much management. It doesn't need to drop by 27%, it needs to drop by 90% to get to normality like we see in the private sector.

Over and above that, managers are still massively overpaid in the public sector. Managers in the private sector don't get paid £50k+ plus a pension that takes it to more like £80k a year. It's laughably ridiculous. A manager at Aldi gets paid £32k - that's without pension.

The council shouldn't pay higher than the private sector, it's ludicrous. Why should people in the private sector work hard to pay wages which are simply unrealistic in the real world? It's grossly unfair.

You need to get in the real world. I see private sector pension holders saw a drop of 27% in the value of their pensions due to the latest round of quantitive easing. But you want to continue to shaft those people to pay for other people's unsustainable gold plated pensions?

Why do you think it's all right to shaft the man in the street by making them pay for hugely overpaid, unnecessary, fat cat managers in the public sector?

It isn't. It's a total disgrace.

Jack Herer wrote:

jack daniels wrote:
The Lancashire Telegraph recently reported that Lancashire County Council had lost between 1500 and 5,376 staff (depending on whom you believe), therefore, it only makes sense that some of these posts are going to be people earning over £50,000.

Some of these staff will be project managers of services that where deemed ‘not essential’, yet where there to try to improve and develop OUR society.

It will also mean that the remaining staff will have more work to do which increases the likelihood of mistakes, sometimes at the cost of our most vulnerable in society. Obviously, this will no doubt be their fault and not the cost cutting of a political setup nobody voted for…

Some may cheer this event and some may morn it’s passing, but it’s the increasingly decimated North West that looses out in the end.

Remember that when the ConDems cuts eventually something that matters to you…

You are just plain wrong, and this shouldn't have been an article about bickering, so why have you made it so?

I can only assume you are a high level union rep, i.e. the worst fat cats going - greed, greed, greed - with zero regard for the poor hard working man on the street, who has no pension but you still want to bleed him dry. You are a disgrace to those poor people.

Everyone knows that council management is so bloated it might pop. These redundancies prevented the problem popping, but it still hasn't addressed the still massive problem of too much management. It doesn't need to drop by 27%, it needs to drop by 90% to get to normality like we see in the private sector.

Over and above that, managers are still massively overpaid in the public sector. Managers in the private sector don't get paid £50k+ plus a pension that takes it to more like £80k a year. It's laughably ridiculous. A manager at Aldi gets paid £32k - that's without pension.

The council shouldn't pay higher than the private sector, it's ludicrous. Why should people in the private sector work hard to pay wages which are simply unrealistic in the real world? It's grossly unfair.

You need to get in the real world. I see private sector pension holders saw a drop of 27% in the value of their pensions due to the latest round of quantitive easing. But you want to continue to shaft those people to pay for other people's unsustainable gold plated pensions?

Why do you think it's all right to shaft the man in the street by making them pay for hugely overpaid, unnecessary, fat cat managers in the public sector?

It isn't. It's a total disgrace.

Who's bickering? I purposefully didn't quote or link your comment because you are, and always will be, a selfish individual.

For the record - I'm not a union rep or a fat cat. I'm just a typical northern working class chap that believes that we should support each other and not listen to Tory propaganda.

Clearly you are wrong again and a habit on your part.

Jack Herer wrote:
Well since I've been the one shouting the loudest for something to happen, I can only say a sincere and heart felt well done.

Lancs county council has got to be applauded here. They are showing we are all in this together. Good effort.

Indeed Jack. Back in 2011 I was in a fat cats private members club and your friend Gideon Osborne was mulling over the idea of how to save money. Amazingly, he read my copy of the LT and spotted one of your well thought out and put together comments.

The rest as they say, is history....

oldblue wrote:
If we can now manage without all these highly paid members of staff why were they employed on such outrageous salaries in the first place? Fabulous severance pay offs no doubt, courtesy of the taxpayer. I will give good odds that they do not find private sector jobs half as generous, but then private companies have to live within their means.

that comment is spot on I don't see how any of them are worth more than 50k.
You can bet a pound to a peanut if the manual workers were on that the council would have put there jobs out to contract.
In fact that's a good idea fire all council staff on 50 k plus, then get them to re aply at a more competitive price.

Sadly the bigger picture is being missed, We need public services run by public service people who know what they are doing. I cannot believe the Tory rhetoric being spouted by the bigoted, spiteful Jack Herer. It is unbelievable, Believe it or not some officers are worth £50k and more, the reason is they deliver for everybody. The private sector are not controlled by the same rules so Jack you are comparing apples and pears.
As for the reduction in private pensions I don't hear you slagging the bankers off. I think Jack your perception of the private sector is distorted to say the least. The private sector are purely profit driven. every where the private sector has taken over the public sector the service has deteriorated, but the profits have not. wages and conditions have gone down, Geoff Driver as county leader shows his true ignorance of the value but not the cost of the professional team assembled at County Hall.
The way he gloats at the amount of people he has put on the dole is shameful. but typical of a Tory destroyer. But Jack I hope you need county services soon and then the reality of the cuts will hit. Then you will realise how the Tories have shafted the man in the street, but there is no fool like an old fool.

mavrick wrote:
Sadly the bigger picture is being missed, We need public services run by public service people who know what they are doing. I cannot believe the Tory rhetoric being spouted by the bigoted, spiteful Jack Herer. It is unbelievable, Believe it or not some officers are worth £50k and more, the reason is they deliver for everybody. The private sector are not controlled by the same rules so Jack you are comparing apples and pears.
As for the reduction in private pensions I don't hear you slagging the bankers off. I think Jack your perception of the private sector is distorted to say the least. The private sector are purely profit driven. every where the private sector has taken over the public sector the service has deteriorated, but the profits have not. wages and conditions have gone down, Geoff Driver as county leader shows his true ignorance of the value but not the cost of the professional team assembled at County Hall.
The way he gloats at the amount of people he has put on the dole is shameful. but typical of a Tory destroyer. But Jack I hope you need county services soon and then the reality of the cuts will hit. Then you will realise how the Tories have shafted the man in the street, but there is no fool like an old fool.

Well said as always. Interesting you should mention the reduction in quality when a service is privatised as Blackburn and darwen council are ending their contract with crapita to provide human resources. This comes after IT services moved back over t'other year.

As we know - Quality costs and we want the best for the people of this country.

What you forget Mavrick is that none of these highly paid managers were made redundant - they left voluntarily no doubt with big payoffs. And wasn't Geoff Driver a local government officer before he entered politics so he knows full well the value of the team at county hall. Thankfully he also knows there are too many of them.

Put this story on my blog 3 days ago.

www.nonjob.tumblr.co
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mavrick wrote:
Sadly the bigger picture is being missed, We need public services run by public service people who know what they are doing. I cannot believe the Tory rhetoric being spouted by the bigoted, spiteful Jack Herer. It is unbelievable, Believe it or not some officers are worth £50k and more, the reason is they deliver for everybody. The private sector are not controlled by the same rules so Jack you are comparing apples and pears.
As for the reduction in private pensions I don't hear you slagging the bankers off. I think Jack your perception of the private sector is distorted to say the least. The private sector are purely profit driven. every where the private sector has taken over the public sector the service has deteriorated, but the profits have not. wages and conditions have gone down, Geoff Driver as county leader shows his true ignorance of the value but not the cost of the professional team assembled at County Hall.
The way he gloats at the amount of people he has put on the dole is shameful. but typical of a Tory destroyer. But Jack I hope you need county services soon and then the reality of the cuts will hit. Then you will realise how the Tories have shafted the man in the street, but there is no fool like an old fool.

Look I'm a busy man. I wish I could more but I don't have the time.

First off don't try and pretend a different reality. I ain't no Tory. I must have told Jack Daniels that 10 times now, but oddly he just ignores me. The Tory's tax cuts for the wealthy and some of their questionable donors and indeed MPs are shameful. You only need look at how snuggled up with the Murdochs they were / are to see that.

I will also happily slag the bankers off. Their greed and the system they represent are what's wrong with this country on a basic level.

But two wrongs don't make a right. Labour are just as self centred and selfish as the Conservatives, and indeed the bankers, but for them it's what the union interests are, which means stupid unsustainable public spending with the fat cat union and public sector bosses then all happily scoffing from the piggy trough, regardless of the man in the street suffering for it.

Why do you think it's OK to raise the shocking situation with the bankers, when it's actually the hard working private sector workers suffer the most from their recklessness? Are you saying that the man in the street shouldn't moan about being shafted by council fat cats though, because he's already been shafted by the bankers? It's a disgraceful opinion to take, because, like I say, two wrongs never make a right.

At least the conservatives know how to balance the books incidentally. With Labour it's an endless cycle of debt, with the average working man looking at a life time of being shafted.

Jack Herer wrote:

mavrick wrote: Sadly the bigger picture is being missed, We need public services run by public service people who know what they are doing. I cannot believe the Tory rhetoric being spouted by the bigoted, spiteful Jack Herer. It is unbelievable, Believe it or not some officers are worth £50k and more, the reason is they deliver for everybody. The private sector are not controlled by the same rules so Jack you are comparing apples and pears. As for the reduction in private pensions I don't hear you slagging the bankers off. I think Jack your perception of the private sector is distorted to say the least. The private sector are purely profit driven. every where the private sector has taken over the public sector the service has deteriorated, but the profits have not. wages and conditions have gone down, Geoff Driver as county leader shows his true ignorance of the value but not the cost of the professional team assembled at County Hall. The way he gloats at the amount of people he has put on the dole is shameful. but typical of a Tory destroyer. But Jack I hope you need county services soon and then the reality of the cuts will hit. Then you will realise how the Tories have shafted the man in the street, but there is no fool like an old fool.

Look I'm a busy man. I wish I could more but I don't have the time. First off don't try and pretend a different reality. I ain't no Tory. I must have told Jack Daniels that 10 times now, but oddly he just ignores me. The Tory's tax cuts for the wealthy and some of their questionable donors and indeed MPs are shameful. You only need look at how snuggled up with the Murdochs they were / are to see that. I will also happily slag the bankers off. Their greed and the system they represent are what's wrong with this country on a basic level. But two wrongs don't make a right. Labour are just as self centred and selfish as the Conservatives, and indeed the bankers, but for them it's what the union interests are, which means stupid unsustainable public spending with the fat cat union and public sector bosses then all happily scoffing from the piggy trough, regardless of the man in the street suffering for it. Why do you think it's OK to raise the shocking situation with the bankers, when it's actually the hard working private sector workers suffer the most from their recklessness? Are you saying that the man in the street shouldn't moan about being shafted by council fat cats though, because he's already been shafted by the bankers? It's a disgraceful opinion to take, because, like I say, two wrongs never make a right. At least the conservatives know how to balance the books incidentally. With Labour it's an endless cycle of debt, with the average working man looking at a life time of being shafted.

Likewise, I am sick to my back teeth of having to explain things 10, 20, 30 times, that the unions and the fat cats are two separate entities. I even provided evidence of Unison membership in relation salary to substantiate this, but you pulled down your blinkers and put your fingers in your ears.

Only an idiot with no understanding of recent events (and I’m looking at you Herer!) would fail to see that the Labour party had been hoodwinked by a right of centre leadership, namely Blair and Brown, which many in the Unions resented.

This is why the Unions backed Ed Milliband as leader of the Labour party, rather than David who is seen as a Blairite. The Unions have this vote because they part fund the labour party and where part of it’s creation.

Finally, and this is what really shows you up; is this delusion that YOU are the voice of the working man. Nobody with that title would praise the Tory party yet you sell your soul, down on your knees, with a smile on your gullible face.

Again if you look at history, you will see an age old pattern of Tory cuts and labour spending. The Tories cut to deep and Labour has to spend to fix the problems. This time round, your chum Gideon has cut so deep, he’s having to spend money himself.

Don’t believe me? Well Google quantitative easing and see how this is still going on. Look at all the financial U turns your chum Gideon has made; the mess the Tories have made with the aircraft carriers and how they are having to fund new NEET and employment support agencies because they stopped funding the old ones. Look at the cuts to the NHS; the Army; the Police. You’ve made your bed with a load of super rich Tory MPs that keep their money abroad, and you try to tell us you’re the voice of the working man.

Welcome to the real world…….