Barking and Dagenham Council’s staff are seething at the treatment metered out to them by the Council’s Assembly on the 18th May, when over 100 council employees attended on the only to see the Assembly Members nod through the removal of the Right of Appeal from their employment contracts with out any debate, or even acknowledging the presence of their staff.

In the words of one GMB member who put pen to paper to councillors, “I was one of the Barking and Dagenham Council employees (and a ratepayer) that attended the Full Council Assembly meeting on Wednesday 18th May. I attended in the hope of being able to address the Councillors before they voted to take away employees right to Appeal to them concerning work related matters. I have to say that I am disgusted at the way we were completely ignored and the vote went through without any discussion with the employees that this matter concerns. In fact before the vote it wasn’t even mentioned by title what they were voting on and the vote went ahead and passed on what seemed like a nod not even a show of hands. The Assembly’s failure to even address the staff has led to a petition that has collected over a 1, 000 signatures in the first 4 days.”

Tony Morris TGWU Convenor at Barking & Dagenham said, “Rob Whiteman, Chief Executive, has managed to earn himself a bad reputation among council staff wherever he has worked. At his old job in Lewisham before moving to Barking & Dagenham Council he was called ‘the jolly bastard’. His current staffs have christened him ‘Sir Humphrey Sponge Bob’.” [A reference to the popular Yes Minister TV character and the kids cartoon character Sponge Bob Smarty Pants].

Sandra Vincent, APEX/GMB Convenor at Barking & Dagenham Council said, “At the moment, if any Council employee is put under disciplinary action or has a grievance against the Council, including accusations of bullying, harassment and discrimination and the grading of jobs, they have the Right of Appeal to Councillors. As a result of the Assembly’s failure to tackle new Chief Executive Rob Whitman over his disgraceful proposal, the staff will lose that right as from the 1st June this year.”

Tony Browne, Unison Branch Secretary said, “If the council thinks that by pretending it’s workforce don’t exist, this issue will just go away, they’d better think again and quickly. We’ll be back at the next Assembly with a petition signed by thousands of the workforce, and we’ll keep coming back until we are acknowledged and listened to.”

Tom Baillie, GMB Convenor for B&D said, “As any sensible employer knows, your staff are your most valuable asset and they need to feel valued, ignoring them at the Assembly was a slap in the face to every hardworking Council Worker. Barking and Dagenham has always been an enjoyable place to work on the whole. Under the banner of wanting to improve morale, the new Chief Executive, Rob Whitman, runs the risk of changing that in just a few short months.”

Contact: Justin Bowden, GMB Senior Organiser on 07710 631351; Paul Travers, TGWU Organiser on 07980 721425; Harry Lister, Unison Organiser on 0207 535 2100