Causeway DUP Councillor John McAuley has said that ‘Populist Politics and Early Electioneering’ Discriminates against the lowest-paid employees at the expense of the ratepayers.
Commenting on the latest Pay Offer agreed at a Special Council meeting on Thursday 5th January, DUP Group Leader Cllr John McAuley has spoken out against colleagues who in his view seized the opportunity for early electioneering stunts and populist politics without any consideration of the implications to our lowest paid employees and ratepayers of the Borough.
Speaking Cllr McAuley said: “Pay negotiations have been ongoing now for a number of months as a result of Unions demanding ‘Local Pay Agreement’ in addition to the National Joint Council Award which was an £1925 increase for all employees. All previous offers including a further one off payment of £1925 for all employees had been refused by the Unions Regional Reps who demanded Incremental pay rises and a one off hardship payment for all employees, claiming that a previous offer which favoured the lowest paid workers was discrimination.
“Ironically, on this basis the latest pay offer which we expect the Unions to accept will also discriminate, though its our lowest paid employees who will lose out with some only receiving an annual increment of £183 whilst others towards the top end of the pay scale will receive an additional £1197 per year – where is the equality and fairness in this offer?
“The DUP Council Group has been very clear from the start that all pay negotiations should be done nationally between Unions and Employers through the NJC but it became obvious that this was not going to happen once other local councils broke away from that protocol and therefore our focus switched to reaching a sensible agreement which was fair and balanced to everyone including the ratepayers who in reality will ultimately feel the pain of any additional costs to council.
It came as no surprise that an early populist proposal was made last night by Independent Republican Cllr Padraig McShane, Seconded by Independent Cllr Angela Mulholland for a 2 year pay offer in line with Union demands (2 Spinal Point increases plus a £601 hardship payment). As this offer was not fair to all employees, I proposed an amendment on behalf of the DUP of 1 x £500 increase in 2022/2023 followed by a further £500 increase in 2023/2024, giving all employees an additional £2925 increase over 2 years including the NJC award with next years NJC Award still to be agreed.
“With one eye on the upcoming elections, the UUP opted to vote against both proposals, allowing them to claim a stance for the ratepayer whilst offering nothing of their own, whilst the SDLP went down the populist route, voting for both proposals with no stance at all. Unfortunately the amendment was defeated by Nationalist Councillors with the support of their political bedfellows in the Alliance and surprisingly the local PUP Councillor, who then all supported the original proposal which was passed.
“No doubt Unions will claim this agreement as a victory, but it certainly raises many questions on who they really represent as many workers will waken up to the reality that they are been awarded considerably less than some of their council colleagues who are already on much higher salaries than those on the frontline that we depend so much on to deliver our essential services – lowest Paid workers are still the lowest paid whilst the highest paid gain and the gap widens.
“I look forward to those who supported last night’s proposal explaining to the ratepayer how we manage the additional costs which are in the region of £2.2million (4.34% rates equivalent) plus the NJC Award which came at a cost of £1.64million (3.28% rates equivalent) without crippling households who are already struggling with their bills.”
