Unite union blasts Tory councillor Andy Booth's comments

“Beyond insulting” says union boss

A Conservative councillor’s call for a jobs cull at the largest local authority in the county has been described as “beyond insulting” by a union boss.

Cllr Andy Booth said Kent County Council’s home working culture must end with higher quality work created with 10% fewer people.

KCC, which is under severe financial pressure, recently disclosed it must find more than £100m in savings in the next two years to balance its budgets and stave off bankruptcy.

But scrutiny committee chairman Cllr Booth’s claims were immediately condemned by Richard White, a Unite regional officer, as “unhelpful and empty rhetoric”.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Booth said of possible losses among KCC’s estimated 6,700 workers: “I think it is inevitable – we have got to save money left, right and centre.

“We have to get away from this culture of working from home and get people working flipping hard. Staff costs are the biggest portion of the KCC budget.

“We need less staff, more work with a higher quality output. People need to stop thinking the Civil Service is an easy life. They’ve had it too good for too long.

“Covid was good for some people because it restored a decent work/life balance but parts of the Civil Service have taken it too far.

“Staff can learn and work with their peers (in the office) and hopefully the council will be a better place for it.”

But union official Mr White countered: “These comments are beyond insulting. Council workers have seen their roles cut to the bone for over a decade due to successive governments starving local government of funding.

“The reality is that workers have seen a huge increase in workloads and are struggling to cope with the demands they face.

“Rather than empty and unhelpful rhetoric Cllr Booth should instead actually learn about the challenges our members face and concentrate on how his authority can pay workers fairly and make sure frontline services are properly staffed.”

Union reps from Unite, Unison and GMB met on Tuesday, September 3, to discuss their pay claim proposal for members for next year.

Last October, as KCC launched its future-mapping Securing Kent’s Future paper, the council warned of a recruitment freeze of non-essential staff as well as altering working practices and culture.

But the authority called for a “leaner” organisation without explicitly proposing wholesale job cuts.

Staffers were told they will not be able to rely on casual or agency workers to fill gaps.

Official papers at the time stated: “Almost certainly, KCC will need to be a leaner organisation, prioritising staff capability over capacity.”

Some Conservative backbenchers are wary of job losses purely to save money.

One said: “The consequence of that could be that they’ll leave to find more suitable jobs elsewhere and there is a risk of a skills deficit.”

Cllr Barry Lewis said: “Do not blame the staff for the incompetence of the political leadership at KCC.

“I think there should be better monitoring of all workers but to be honest I have no strong opinions about people working from home.

“The answer is not whether people work from home or work in the office  – it is how they work and how they are deployed by the people leading the council.

“Does it matter if you are in a suit or pyjamas? It’s what you do when you are in them.”