COUNCIL bosses in Wyre Forest are to press on with plans to implement a pay offer for workers despite fierce objection from unions and opposition members.

Wyre Forest District Council met last night (Wednesday, September 27) to discuss a proposed package that will give its 300 employees a 4.5 per cent pay rise over four years from 2018, while also ending long service payments for around 50 workers.

The authority maintains it cannot afford to go higher without cutting jobs but both UNISON and GMB branded the offer as “unfair” and dozens of members lobbied councillors as they arrived at Wyre Forest House prior to the meeting.

The public gallery was also packed with council staff and union members while the issue was discussed.

UNISON regional organiser Steve Akers also addressed the chamber at the start of the meeting urging councillors to support a joint Labour and Liberal Democrat motion to return to national negotiations – which the authority broke away from in 2014.

But the Conservative administration defeated that motion before rejecting a further proposal to defer the matter until further negotiations have taken place.

Chief executive Ian Miller will now continue consultations with staff and the unions in order to seek implementation of pay increases and the phasing out of long service award payments.

The approved recommendation also allows for redundancy notices to be served on staff who do not accept the proposals.

Councillor Nathan Desmond, cabinet member for resources, said: “We would love to pay our staff more than is on the table but the fact is we face a very difficult financial landscape.

“We have to balance the interests of our staff on one hand with the interests of our tax payers on the other.

“We believe the package we have put forward is fair, measured and affordable. We have an excellent track record in protecting jobs and in six years we have made only 10 compulsory redundancies.

“But we are a listening administration, our door is open and the process has not ended. We urge the unions to talk to us.”

But the council’s Labour, Liberal Democrat and Independent members all opposed the plan and called for a re-think.

Labour group leader Nigel Knowles said: “This is a nonsense. What this is saying is if people don’t agree, it will be enforced on them. That’s dictatorship. You reap what you sow and people will not appreciate this come election time in May.

His Labour colleague Jamie Shaw said the proposal was damaging staff morale and added that half of the councillors’ Community Leadership Fund would cover the £16,000 cost of retaining the Long Service Awards.

And Liberal Democrat Fran Oborski said: “In 44 years, I’ve never felt ashamed of being a Wyre Forest District Councillor but I do at the moment.

"It is completely unfair to carry on a process that ultimately leads to the issuing of redundancy notices and then re-engagement on different terms and conditions."