Steve Wright

Today I had the pleasure of popping round to Rochdale Lib Dem HQ, this is our nearest large neighbour and a full on operation. I met the two people at the hub of the operation, because of the secrecy involved I will call them David and Adam.

David and Adam showed me the articles that they were working on at the present time and they had some very interesting ideas and a slightly different concept on the propaganda front.

As always I left the Rochdale operation with the warm glow inside knowing that the residents of Rochdale were well catered for with a Lib Dem council and MP.  

It seems that GB’s legacy to the people of American is going to be 10 trillion dollars in debt ( thats one and thirteen zeros ) and we are complaining about a shrewd scot? The new incumbents are promising to do a lot of reforms if they get the top job which they are going to find virtually impossible with no money.

Obama and Carey already lying ??????? 

After Cllr Wilf Davison asked for employees to have a personnel hearing over the recent pay awards the council has reluctantly agreed.

The hot topic at the moment in Bury is the equal pay that has been forced on the council. The Liberal democrat press release is as follows,

BURY COUNCIL PAY AND GRADING REVIEW. A STATEMENT FROM BURY LIBERAL DEMOCRATS  This statement follows the Full Council meeting of Wednesday, 10^th September. It also follows on from a number of informal discussions Lib Dem Councillors have had with Council staff, Union officials and Officers since the results of the review were announced.  

• Bury Liberal Democrat Council Group remain fully committed to ensuring a full, open and transparent continuation of the Job Evaluation / Equal Pay issue currently affecting Council staff.

• Bury Liberal Democrats are increasingly concerned that so many issues are outstanding, seemingly unresolved by Council Officers and the Conservative leadership. Too many questions remain about the fairness of the process. Liberal Democrats asked for a number of concessions at the Council meeting on September 10^th. Lib Dems urged the Conservatives to allow employees a personal appeal. We believe that anything other than this will be an affront to employees’ rights. We continue to urge Bury Council to reverse the decision not to allow personal appeals, with immediate effect.

• There are persistent concerns being raised about the moderation process. We expect the council leadership to fully detail how the accuracy and reliability of the moderation process was prepared, monitored and audited. If the process is to be held as a fair and transparent process then staff need to know that the moderation applied was in itself monitored and checked. Those undertaking the moderation must independent of the process, to ensure that the outcome is fair across all Departments.

• We welcome the Leader’s commitment to re-training and to make vacant posts available to suitably qualified staff. We would like to see more formal commitment to this process by Council via the introduction of a Re-grading Register, from which applicants could be approached and designated funds put aside for re-training. Such a system would ensure that the mechanisms and funding are in place to aid job training and reallocation.

• Bury Liberal Democrat Group were dismayed and disappointed that the Labour Group walked out of the Full Council meeting on 10^th September. It is our view that this (clearly planned and orchestrated) walkout was a stunt rather than a serious attempt to solve a major problem. By walking out of a debate on this issue, Labour abdicated their responsibility towards council staff as the main opposition to the leading group driving through the re-grading. Liberal Democrats will continue to provide the only serious, thoughtful opposition to the Conservatives, by ensuring that the process is handled as fairly and openly as possible.

• Labour’s walkout was a betrayal of the Council staff they claim to support. Their hot-headed actions ended debate and denied the opportunity for further questions. Labour’s absence from the meeting also meant that a debate on Radcliffe Riverside school did not take place, as the Labour Councilor due to ask the relevant question had left the meeting. The people of Radcliffe will rightly ask why Labour has let them down yet again.

• In response to a question from the Lib Dem Council Group, the leader of the Council agreed to hold a special briefing session for Council members. We welcome this initial response from the leader of the Council. We expect that the meeting should be held as soon as practicable. Representatives of the Union should be invited to attend.

• We acknowledge that this review came about due to national issues surrounding fair pay and that the Government instructed Councils to carry out a review following a job evaluation process and that review was carried out according to directives. However Bury Council is responsible to the people of Bury and its staff, and It is essential that staff are motivated to continue to provide the first class service its people expect to receive. The impact of this review on staff morale is a matter of great concern. Bury Council is in danger of losing some of its most experienced staff as a result of the way this review has been mishandled.

• Both Labour and the Conservatives must shoulder their share of the blame for the trauma now being faced by many staff. Labour were instrumental in establishing the process as directed by a Labour Government. And now with the review completed the Conservative administration are responsible for implementing the conclusions in a manner that both safeguards council finances but also council services. More important than blame though, is that the Council comes together for the good of staff moving forward. Liberal Democrats feel that all parties are duty bound to explore every avenue in searching for ways to support staff who are likely to lose thousands of pounds in pay. At the Council meeting on September 10^th Labour deserted staff whilst the Lib Dems secured concessions and more consideration from the Tories. 

• The Lib Dems in Bury recognise the hard work and dedication of Bury Council staff, and will continue to do all within our powers to support staff through this difficult period.

Bury Liberal Democrat GroupSeptember 11, 2008

Tonight was the inaugural Participation of Children and young people sub committee.

It seems that not all Area Partnerships are like Prestwich and have a young person on the Area board to help with youth issues.

There is no coincidence with the fact that all the Councillors on Prestwich Area Partnership are Liberal Democrat Councillors. 

In prestwich the Liberal Democrat Group having been running a Love Prestwich campaign.

Its aim is to get a little more pride in Prestwich, cut down on Littering and Graffiti, as well as get the Council to clean up more regularly.

So it was with dismay that I noticed on sunday that some yob had pulled down one of the hanging baskets.

It just proves that Love Prestwich has a long way to go yet.

If you look at the picture on the right you may guess I’m only twenty five, However the picture above proves otherwise.

These are my twins David and Helen just about to go off to their graduation party at Manchester Citys Stadium.

How old ??  

Fourteen months of Tory rule

“where’s the school”

Wednesday was Mayor making, Peter Ashworth is Burys new Mayor and by all accounts a very worthy person .

Later bob bibby gave his statement on the state of the borough 2007/2008 strangely ( well for him ) that’s what he did without trying to goad the opposition parties.

I also have a new seating position I’m officially a frontbencher with my mentor Cllr Garner to my left, to my right is Cllr Vincent (who I’ve found to be amusing ) behind me is Cllr Ahmed a new appointee also behind me is Cllr Wiseman who is the conservatives parliamentary candidate for Bury south ( vote D’ Albert )

Thursday was full Governors at Prestwich Arts College we were told of a meeting between the Head Geoff Barlow and our local Mp Ivan Lewis in attempt to move on from the strategic review and build some bridges. Well surprise surprise, knock me down with a feather our Local Mp still has some negative perceptions of the school.  

Darlings mini budget is a bribe it will not work!

I recently had a walk around Bury, nothing unusual in that however this was done in ladies high heels. This was done as part of Bury’s domestic violence week for sponorship and to highlight the various issues.

I am pictured here with my Lib dem colleague Cllr Donal O’Hanlon again showing when its an important issue then the Lib Dems are there to fully support. Shame the other political parties didn’t support as much.