UNISON has called on Caerphilly council to withdraw a report outlining plans to ‘buy out’ essential car user allowances and annual leave currently afforded to chief officers at the council.
UNISON believes that the plans would allow chief officers to be treated more favourably compared to all other council staff. The changes are to be made to harmonise terms and conditions across the workforce, but the ‘buy-out’ element would go beyond the three years protection that the rest of the workforce received.
The council has rejected the trade union request for further discussion on the matter.
UNISON Caerphilly branch secretary Gary Enright said: “This council has a track record of treating those at the top more favourably.
“I had hoped that they would have learnt from their previous mistakes and, at the very least, agreed to meet with us to discuss the matter further. Sadly this does not seem to be the case.
“UNISON has absolutely no problem with senior staff receiving what they are entitled to, but this should be consistent across the entire workforce.
“What we cannot support, however, is for some of the workforce to be treated more favourably than others, and that is exactly what this proposal would allow.”
