03 October 2011

Local government union officials targeted by Pickles


Communities secretary Eric Pickles targeted full-time union officials when he addressed delegates at the Conservative party conference in Manchester this week.

Mr Pickles criticised councils for spending £250m on the officials and set out how he plans to cut bureaucracy and tackle equality rules.

He said: ‘You won’t find Labour criticising them as their leader’s own Labour council keeps bankrolling union officials on the rates.’

He warned union officials should carry on their work ‘in their own time’ and said: ‘We’re going to call time on this last closed shop.’

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude told the conference he was ‘consulting’ on reducing the amount of time Whitehall union officials were allowed to devote to union business. He added: ‘In the civil service this costs £30m a year and 150 civil servants are on the public payroll as full-time officials.’

Mr Pickles also revealed how civil servants under the previous Labour government spent thousands of pounds on a trip to a burlesque club.

Eric Pickles Pickles: union officials should carry on their work ‘in their own time’ .

‘Take the example of Labour blowing £5,000 on my department’s officials to have a staff away day at a club,’ Mr Pickles said.

‘Not a working men’s club. Not a Pall Mall gentlemen’s club. No, a different kind of gentlemen’s club – a club which features showgirl sensation Amber Topaz and her exotic chum, Lady Beau Peep.

‘I’ve never thought of the civil service as lost sheep. I’m not sure why they flocked to that establishment. No more – I’ve cancelled these plush away days.’

Mr Pickles has already caused controversy among councils with plans to launch a Weekly Collections Support Scheme to help authorities reintroduce weekly waste collections.





Your comments

Well I was going to ask 'what is this idiot up to now?' but everyone here and I suspect elsewhere have asked this already. It beggars belief that he has any job at all when there is so much talent languishing at home with no prospect of a job. I wouldn't employ him and indeed didn't. Get rid of him and his lot - I didn't vote for this!

Linda, Added: Thursday, 17 November 2011 10:39 AM

Quite the opposite Mr Pickles. What we need is fully funded Union offices and officials.

Jamie Fry, Added: Thursday, 6 October 2011 09:32 AM

This idiot still acts like a second rate district councillor which is where he is best suited. He is definitely unfit to be the holder of an Office of State and raises serious questions regarding Cameron,s judgement.

Chris Kitcher, Added: Wednesday, 5 October 2011 07:03 PM

I suspect thaqt one of the worthy Mr. Pickles' many problems is that he takes Bradford in his day as the model for how he believes LG "works" if that's the right word for Bradford in his day. Also, of course, he thinks he knows better than everyone else, but that's a more common problem. When I was in LG I found fulltime (and part-time) union officials extremely valuable as people with whom to talk over many issues. Of course, a few were fools - but that applies tp politicians too.

John Emms, Added: Wednesday, 5 October 2011 04:25 PM

In October 1988 Eric Pickles and his Tory group took control of Bradford Council with a radical programme designed to "wipe out municipal socialism forever". The story behind the "Bradford Revolution" is the story of Eric Pickles - now Vice Chairman of the Tory party and an ambitious Tory M.P. with a safe seat. It is a story of intrigue and double-dealing, ambition and power, sex and money, conspiracy and corruption, betrayal and blackmail! "This house congratulates Tony Grogan on the publication of "The Pickles Papers" and believes his revelations ... serve as a timely warning..." - House of Commons motion. "It is rubbish, inaccurate and defamatory. If any body or organisation reproduces any of it, I shall not hesitate to take litigation" - Eric Pickles.

T Watson, Added: Wednesday, 5 October 2011 03:02 PM

Surely there is a role for Theresa May's cat in this issue.

patrick newman ex local government, Stevenage, Added: Wednesday, 5 October 2011 01:50 PM

This berk still thinks we pay 'rates', the idiot should not hold the position he has if he does not know what taxation scheme, operated by local councils, is in operation currently! I wonder if he knows what 'Council Tax' is? He is obviously incapable of getting his facts right about anything.

Graham, Added: Tuesday, 4 October 2011 11:38 AM

Its about time Council chief executives got in among the many 'Pilgrims' in the taxpayer funded sector. Taxpayers paying for union officials to then organise disruption against them that pay for them is crazy. If they want full time reps the unions should pay for them. Keep going Pickles, you are on the money but much more to go at . . Some of it must be working, the pained screams from the featherbedded sector & lefties are increasing

J Smith, Added: Monday, 3 October 2011 03:08 PM

Look out this vicious evil fool is at it again. does he have half a brain?

Chris Kitcher, Added: Monday, 3 October 2011 11:24 AM



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