Comments on: Single status

By: martin

martin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:26:54 +0000

and I forgot to mention that the way the council has carried out the exercise has been one of the reasons for its failure:
everyone was asked to fill in a questionaire about their jobs, giving details of staff they managed/who reported to them and budgets they controlled.
Naturally, everyone wanted as many staff as possible and as big a budget as possible to make their job as big and important as possible so they wouldn’t be adversely affected by pay & grading.
Then came the requirement to make savings to balance the budget.
No-one in their right mind is going to cut either staff or expenditure for fear of losing out in the as yet unresolved pay & grading fiasco.
And so it goes on, they’re still clinging to their staffs and budgets and they will continue to do so until the dust settles; then, and only then, maybe we’ll see some sensible planning.
However, you have to remember that the talented team that failed to get Building Schools for the Future signed off in time is all still employed. When BSF collapsed not a single one of them was made redundant, so perhaps I’m being optimistic in thinking that they will do something for the borough, and not themselves…

By: martin

martin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:10:44 +0000

but it’s OK, they’ve just taken on a Business Change Manager (on £85,000 a year) so he’ll be able to drive these changes through.
Fortunately, they’ve had the foresight to make his job permanent so when he’s made these changes he’ll still be on the payroll to dream up and carry out some more.

By: Single status (via The Plastic Hippo) « BrownhillsBob's Brownhills Blog

Single status (via The Plastic Hippo) « BrownhillsBob's Brownhills Blog — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:03:28 +0000

[...] bang-on-the-money comment from The Plastic Hippo. The scandal of Single Status in Walsall has been swept under the carpet for far too long. Read [...]

By: Single status (via The Plastic Hippo) « BrownhillsBob's Brownhills Blog

Single status (via The Plastic Hippo) « BrownhillsBob's Brownhills Blog — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:03:13 +0000

[...] The tried and tested strategy of ignoring a problem in the hope that it will go away is well established in the Walsall political zeitgeist. Elephants in bedrooms are continually spared investigation. However, the newly formed council can no longer disregard the vast herds of pachyderms ensconced in the Civic Centre and elsewhere. Shortly after Tony Blair’s first election victory in 1997, the Single Status Agreement between trade unions and local … Read More [...]