The devastating government cuts to Birmingham City Council budgets and the city’s failure to comply with equal pay legislation over many years, has created a perfect storm, warned Heather Wakefield, UNISON head of local government today. “This is what’s leading to the potential sell-off of public assets like Birmingham’s NEC, which is a high price for local residents to pay, as they will lose a valuable revenue stream.”
Since the Tories came to power, cuts to council budgets have led to massive job losses and the axing of vital local services. Between 2010/11 and 2012/13 Birmingham City Council was hit with a £175m reduction in central government support, fuelling the need for further drastic cost savings.
Over years the former Tory controlled council in Birmingham tried todefend the indefensible instead of dealing with outstanding equal pay claims. They added fuel to the fire by continuing to pay bonuses to the city’s refuse collectors after a strike in 2008, despite repeated warnings from UNISON that this would lead to a second wave of equal pay claims.
The Department for Communities and Local Government have also short-changed the council because they have failed to lend it enough money to settle claims. So far Birmingham has received just £0.5bn, less than half the total amount needed, leading to the likely sale of its assets.
Heather Wakefield, UNISON head of local government went on to say:
“It is ridiculous that more than 40 years since the Equal pay Act came into force, the union is still fighting equal pay claims on behalf of women members. The total bill that councils have paid to women in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to settle these claims, and in paying for expensive London barristers, has cost £3bn – money that should have been put into creating a fair pay system many years ago.
“Birmingham City Council should have accepted that the law must be followed but instead the former Tory controlled council chose to waste time and local taxpayers’ money resisting the law.”
