Union accuses council of ‘side stepping stolen wages’

GMB union has criticised Birmingham City Council after it sent all 10,000 staff information on its resignation scheme.

The Mutually Agreed Resignation Scheme (MARS) has been brought about as a cost-saving drive, following a series of financial mismanagement.

Despite shelling out £1.1bn in the last decade to settle equal pay claims, the council is facing a £760m equal pay liability bill. But GMB says that it’s ‘side stepping stolen wages’ as staff opting for the scheme could be required to sign away equal pay claims against the authority.

Spending restrictions have been imposed and non-essential spending ceased after the failures, which include an overspend of £80m on a malfunctioning IT system.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also ruled out a bailout saying it was “not the government’s job to bail out the council for its financial mismanagement”.

Michelle McCrossen, GMB Organiser, said: “We will not let the Council sidestep their equal pay liability by stealth. To ask council staff to agree to forgive and forget the wages that’ve been stolen from this just isn’t acceptable.

“Birmingham City Council have been running from their equal pay problems for too long, the MARS scheme is yet another attempt to sidestep stolen wages.

“It’s not acceptable to expect workers to foot the bill for their own equal pay settlement, either through a cut-price deal to leave the council or the slow knife of taking on more work for the same wage while services are slashed to the bone.

“Our union’s priority is making sure the problem is fixed once and for all and that workers who have been discriminated against are paid every penny they’re owed.”

Birmingham City Council has been contacted for comment, with no immediate response.