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Union urges council to stop Christmas lay-off plans

CRUEL Cambridgeshire County Council was urged yesterday to axe its plan to lay off of scores of workers over Christmas.

The Conservative-run council has told staff that they must take three days of unpaid leave between December 25 and the end of the year.

The authority sought to defend its decision by saying that the Unison union had agreed in 2014 that the council could lay staff off for “up to three days” in the event of “significant financial difficulty” where there was no other way to continue its operations.

However, Unison said the understanding behind the agreement was that councillors would, in return, negotiate with unions about introducing the Living Wage Foundation’s rate as the minimum for its staff, but this has pledge has not been kept.

Unison Cambridgeshire County Council branch secretary Rob Turner said: “This lay-off is an unwanted Christmas present for Cambridgeshire’s hard-working council staff.

“When the emergency agreement was reached four years ago, we had no idea austerity would last so long.

“To blow off the cobwebs and pull it off the shelf now is a cruel blow to the dedicated staff who work so hard to keep the county running.

“Council bosses want to present this as three days off at Christmas, but in fact it’s a 1.2 per cent pay cut for staff who’ve already suffered years of pay freezes.”

A council spokesperson told the Star that the measure was intended to “protect jobs and services.”

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