Council tells staff to accept new terms or face sack amid financial crisis

Causeway Coast and Glens Council is proposing what it calls the ‘harmonisation of terms and conditions’ for staff in its leisure services department.

The proposals have come about following serious financial problems facing the council, according to both a trade union source and an elected councillor.

A confidential document, which has been leaked to the News Letter, states that the council “reserves the option” of “termination of existing staff contracts” if workers refuse to sign up to the proposed changes, followed by what it describes as “re-engagement” under new terms.

A source from the trade union Unite told the News Letter: “They’re putting a gun to our heads by saying if we don’t agree they’re just going to sack everybody.”

The council is due to strike its annual rate tonight amid calls from the SDLP, Alliance and the independent councillor Padraig McShane for an investigation into the financial situation.

The Northern Ireland Audit Office confirmed last month that it had met with a “cross-party delegation of councillors” to discuss concerns about the council’s finances.

The Department for Communities has also confirmed in recent weeks that the new minister, Deirdre Hargey, is “aware of the financial position” facing the Causeway Coast and Glens council.

A spokesperson said “further meetings” are planned between Stormont officials and the leadership of the council.

Mr McShane believes the proposed changes to employment terms can be “directly linked” to the financial problems facing the council.

“The threats to dismiss leisure centre staff because they refuse to sign up to less favourable terms of employment are a striking example of how the lowest paid would be asked to shoulder the burden of financial mismanagement in Causeway Coast and Glens,” he added.

The cross-party calls for an investigation intensified last month after a document Mr McShane said was leaked to him outlined the council’s “dire” finances.

“Fundamentally the financial crisis could destroy us,” a senior council official is quoted as saying in the document.

Another asked: “When is anyone going to tell the councillors that we are broke?”

When the financial difficulties facing the council began to become apparent, the accountancy firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) was brought in to give advice.

In a draft PwC report that has been seen by the News Letter, the “harmonisation” of terms and conditions is identified as a possible way of reducing costs.

Since the reduction in the number of councils in Northern Ireland from 26 to 11 back in 2014, some staff have continued to be employed on terms and conditions from the old ‘legacy’ councils.

A source from the trade union Unite said: “Although they’re calling it harmonisation, it has nothing to do with harmonisation. This is just cuts.

“But the more worrying thing for us is that they say that if they don’t reach agreement — and by that we can only assume they mean if people don’t agree to cuts in their pay — they will consider the option of terminating contracts. That’s a real threat.”

The Unite source added: “It is unfair to ask the workers, through pay cuts, to deal with the council’s problems with finance.

“Some of those workers are amongst the lowest paid in the council. We’re not talking about the directors or chief executives — they are certainly not facing any pay cuts in these proposals.”

The termination of existing staff contracts is listed in the leaked confidential document as one of three options available “in the event of non-agreement” with workers.

The News Letter has approached the council for comment.