City staff to be made to work public holidays for first time

COUNCIL staff are to be told to work on public holidays for the first time under controversial plans to overhaul their working conditions.

The move is aimed at meeting a growing demand for a round-the-clock service and would mean council offices would be open as normal on public holidays.

But the change to working conditions is facing strong opposition from unions, as it means staff who currently work on bank holidays will lose bonus payments.

It is part of a new pay system to be introduced for 17,000 key council workers, which will also see staff expected to work an extra 15 minutes per week – up from 35.75 hours to 36 – for no extra money.

Lengthy negotiations over the new working conditions got under way between union and council chiefs yesterday.

After years of delay, the council is moving towards a "single status" system – scrapping the maze of different pay scales and giving staff a "fair" rate for the jobs they do.

Coupled with individual job evaluations, which will see some workers suffer salary cuts, the council is also set to introduce performance-related pay for the first time.

Finance leader Gordon Mackenzie said: "Our aim is for Edinburgh to be one of the top-perfoming authorities in the country. A fairer pay system will ensure better use of taxpayers' money by avoiding legal claims, paying appropriate wages, attracting and retaining good staff."

Deputy council leader Steve Cardownie insisted the deal was open to negotiation, saying: "It will be difficult but we are confident staff and their representatives will work productively with us to achieve the best possible result."

But while the council believes the added flexibility for choosing holiday dates will be welcomed by staff, unions warn lower-paid workers who currently work antisocial hours will be worse off.

At present, the majority of council staff are entitled to ten public holidays every year, with extra cash for the small number of employees – such as binmen and street cleaners – who do work.

In future, all holidays apart from Christmas and New Year will be added to workers' annual leave entitlement. John Stevenson, a spokesman for Unison's Edinburgh branch, said: "They have lumped in working conditions with equal pay and the motivation is to save money.

"The reality is that the flexibility (to work public holidays] is already there, but the council has to pay for it. They want to create that flexibility without paying for it."

Elsewhere in the country, the move to single status has led to major strike action, and council leaders today confirmed they had drawn up contingency plans – but were "hoping not to use them".

Most employees will remain on the same pay. Others will receive a rise – particularly women in low-paid jobs. A minority will have their salaries cut. Their pay packets will be protected for three years but they will miss out on annual rises until their new wage "catches up".