ALL 11,300 of Salford council's workforce have been invited to apply for voluntary redundancy as the city struggles with a £15m budget deficit.
The council also plans to cut the wages of around 860 staff by up to £4,000.
The pay cuts, which range from £50 to £4,000, are the result of a review to ensure the authority is not breaking equal pay rules.
But 90 per cent of council staff will have an increase in their wages or they will stay the same.
Equality
Salford is the third Greater Manchester council to reveal its pay and grading review to establish new salary scales under legislation designed to provide equality in jobs where women were traditionally underpaid.
Council leader John Merry said: "We have made strenuous efforts to minimise the number of people that will lose out. The unions have always accepted that there will be winners and losers."
'Unfortunate'
Norman Owen, leader of Salford's Liberal Democrats, said: "The negotiations over this have been going on for years. It is unfortunate the cuts should happen at the time of a credit crunch."
The wage cuts will not be implemented until October, 2009.
All workers have received letters inviting them to take voluntary redundancy as part of an efficiency drive recommended by consultants.
In March this year, the M.E.N. revealed KMPG experts for audit, tax, and advisory services had been paid £158,000 to advise how the council could save money.
Saved
They suggested 279 jobs could be saved over the next three years in a review which identified ways of saving, which ranged from not filling vacant posts to reducing the number of newspapers delivered to the finance department.
The council has adopted the plan - called Think Efficiency - and intends to save £20m over the next three years, and £12m a year after that.
The reduction in jobs would be through voluntary redundancies and early retirements. The council insists there will be no impact on frontline services.
'Efficiencies'
Coun Bill Hinds, the city's finance spokesman, said: "The council is responsible for spending council taxpayers' money efficiently, so we have taken a look at how things can be improved.
"We have identified real efficiencies. The intention is to deliver savings of £20m over the next three years and significant savings each year after that.
"This is not about making savings to balance the books, it is a strategic review of how we can get better value from economies of scale."
Comments
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I know, why don't Salford spend a couple of hundred thousand pounds on an Ice Rink in the hope of recouping £35000 in admission prices to cheer up the staff?
Another great idea from a congestion charge supporter!
i wonder if the guy on the right is gonna recieve his pay cut??? come to that matter any of the high earners cos' thats where most of the wages are going!!!
Another Council falls victim to the Governments equal pay formula. Oldham are having to make redundancies. Bury & Bolton have had to reduce pay for a significant number of staff.
Now here come Salford, giving their staff a PAY RISE in one hand, and then asking them to volunteer from redundancy in the other.
Absolute lunacy.
Still at least they will have nice new trams on the way to the Job Centre.
I hope Merry takes up the offer,he is the biggest single drain on Salfords finances.We need merry like a hole in the head.What we need is a leader who cares for the people of Salford.
It will be a crime if it is only the low earners that suffer this wage cut.
Mr Merry looks as though he needs to take a cut doesn't he!
here we go, congestion charge has to come into this.
Please people, if they cant get the redundancy people to come forward then it will no doubt that people will lose their jobs.
This is not about the congestion charge this is about bad management at the council and also the government reducing the help they give to local councils.
Also, the amount of people who do not pay their council tax because they do not agree to it, costs councils like Salford thousands of pounds every year.
So, turn off the congestion charge rubbish on this one and think about the people 5 weeks before Christmas, who will suffer job losses, etc.
Merry like a lot of Salfords labour councillors,do not listen the the public.They implement what they want and what the Council tax need.I have lived in Salford for 40 years and never known their finances be so bad as under Merry.What we need is a total change of party in Salford.Has anyone looked at how much these Councillors get in expenses,no wonder they want the job.Look at Salfords website and just see how much they get in expenses.
Further to my last post it should read "NOT what the council tax payers need"
if you're one of the ones thats made redundant then take it as a blessing in disguise.
you'll probably get a payout for leaving so you can escape from manchester city centre and go work somewhere where the councils want you to come and work without penalising you!
Umpire 2…If you think a little outside the box the point of the argument is that this individual is making decisions about your life on one hand whilst dictating to you on the other. Another MEN story outlines an Ice Rink in Salford for Christmas which will, more than likely, run at a loss. How can stupid decisions like that be approved at the cost of services and jobs?
The fact is that many of these politicians are not qualified to make decisions and do so at a cost to the council taxpayer. The announce proposals as fact when they are simply wrong in their assertions which will also cost the council taxpayers of Salford and possibly jobs. The congestion charge point is perfectly valid.
"So, turn off the congestion charge rubbish on this one and think about the people 5 weeks before Christmas, who will suffer job losses, etc. "
It is not directly about the congestion charge but think about it.
A Labour goverment has imposed these ridiculous rules on a Council
A Labour Council is making people redundant becuase it can't manage it's finances
A Labour Council is busy spending money like confetti on a pink skating rink.
Now a Labour government is trying to impose a £1200 Tax on the people of Manchester, using it's Labour henchmen like Leese, Merry & Smith.
I put it to you, M'Lord, that it is all linked becuase it is all down to economic mismanagement and Labour's Tax & Spend policies.
This Council is bust becuase it is run bdaly. The Country is bust for the same reason and the C-Charge is a consequence of that.
i wonder how much of a pay cut the leader is taking?
Labour councils are like computer operating systems (over bloated) to many people doing to few jobs,Its always been the same with labour wasting taxpayers money,Just like dorect works used to be four men to hang a door i remember.
The staff needn't worry. I remember years ago Trafford Council asked for voluntary redundancies in this way. Now they employ more staff than ever. Public payrolls only go up, not down.
Dr Spanner - your rantings are on the verge of lunacy !
Whilst - problems exist with many Council's, including Salford controlled by Labour - I would rather have a Labour Council than a Tory one anyday !
As well as a Labour government than a Tory one run by Cameron and Co who are only concerned for the toffee-nosed rich at the expense of the poor !
Cameron is on the ropes as are the Tories because they have been seen in the cold light of day for what they really are !
Cuts, cuts cuts, for the rich, rich, rich !!!!!!!!
Ace
Unfortunately in Salford it now takes four people to take and process the order for the door, and One poor tradesman who will be inundated with loads of doors to hang at the same time and faces the angry tenent. Myself I have to look through yellow pages to find a tradesman and pay for it myself.
So its not fair that Labour brought in equal pay for the sexes, is it right that a person cleaning a school with all that entails should be on less than a binman who wheels a bin to the back of the wagon and lets technology do the rest.But their are dinosaurs out there who think that women should be paid less than men and nothing will ever change them, and I bet most vote Tory.
"Cameron is on the ropes as are the Tories because they have been seen in the cold light of day for what they really are "
Mouldy,
That is why they have increased their opinion poll lead according to the Independent.
I live in a Tory Borough. They have managed to this process without job losses. They have not wasted £200k on a Pink Ice Rink.
It's not about the toffe nosed rich. It's about helping those that make an effort.
Look up effort - It's a word removed from the public sector dictionary for fear of offending the unions.
Don't worry folks, you can use your redundancy money for a go on the pink ice rink that Salford can afford........
Know Nowt said....."But their are dinosaurs out there who think that women should be paid less than men and nothing will ever change them, and I bet most vote Tory."
This has arisen because of that bastion of Conservatism, Manchester City Council who regularly paid women less than men and a recent court case proved it so. This resulted in many large payments backdated to the women.
You Tory quote is a fallacy.
No doubt after all the redundances, Alan Westwood (if he's still chief exec) would award himself a massive bonus for saving money whilst the workers get extra duties.
Redundances should start with the bin men, we've been forced to do half their job for them by separating our rubbish into a yard full of bins
If they are in debt now, just wait until they have to find another £2,000 a year for all of the 11,300 staff to pay the con charge.
Once upon a time the 'council' was about as safe a job as you could get!
That’s a huge deficit and must be attributed to the current administration in charge.
I really is amazing how Salford has got into so much debt since John Merry became leader.Perhaps if he stopped wasting our money,or better still if he accepted redundancy things would be better.Come on John do the decent thing.GO.
I wonder how big John Merry's paycut will be...?
The hypocritical nonsense being spouted by the toffee-nosed rich who vote Tory, like the comments made by Dr Spanner is unreal !
Salford City Council admittedly maybe having difficulties so are asking for voluntary redundancies !
I repeat - VOLUNTARY !
Anyone who does not know the meaning of the word I suggest you look it up in the dictionary !
When would a Tory follow this course of action ? Never !
They would sack or compulsarily make redundant for the sake of PROFIT at the expense of the ordinary worker whilst paying hundreds of thousands to top executives !
Dr Spanner thank goodness you live in Trafford - Try living on the estates of Salford City in a high rise living off Job Seekers Allowance for a week ?
Cameron and Co announced today that the Tories are abandoning Labours spending plans from 2010 ! Surprise, surprise !
The Labour Party may no longer be a Socialist party but I definately do not want the Toffee-nosed rich to run this country which Cameron and Co are !
Their economic policies are found wanting and Gordon Brown for all his weaknesses is running rings around Cameron and Osborne and what are the Tories answers to all this ?
They bring back Oliver Letwin !
What a joke !