Council Workers Left Stressed By Worry and Lack of Information, Says Union

EMPLOYEES at the district council have been left stressed and worried by a lack of information over a round of forthcoming redundancies, a trade union leader has told the Ely Standard.

Phil Gooden, officer for pubic workers union UNISON, said he had been contacted by staff at East Cambridgeshire District Council (ECDC) in recent weeks expressing worries over the way the ongoing round of redundancies were being handled.

Mr Gooden said staff had been left confused over conflicting information about the number of redundancies and about the way in which the consultations were being carried out.

ECDC have hit back at the claims, however, saying that officers have continued to work closely with affected staff and unions.

It is believed that 15 posts are to be axed at the council as part of an effort to cut more than �500,000 out of the authority's staffing budget. The cuts are all part of the council's drive to cover a �1.6 million budget deficit for 2010/11.

Mr Gooden told the Ely Standard: "The message we are getting from staff is that they don't know what is going on and we want that rectified.

"One of our main problems is that the council refuses to clarify to the union the difference between what councillors have said about who is being made redundant and what we have been told directly.

"There is a lot of misinformation being put out about the redundancies which is worrying and stressful for staff. In some cases we have been told that staff are being consulted about the redundancies while colleagues in the same department are not."

Andrew Killington, executive director at East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: "The consultation process is currently being progressed and we are working with staff and Unison with a view to reaching an agreement on the proposals which were presented at Joint Consultative Committee on the January 14.