Union fears 'hotchpotch' of private agency staff

In 1999 three directorates - development, environment and community services - were merged into two and Unison says they are understaffed.

Mr Alan Docherty, branch secretary, put members of the environment scrutiny committee in the picture at Monday's meeting during a report on private transport.

He said 15 employment tribunals- three cases of unfair dismissal and 12 who had wages cut - were launched after the restructuring. All were settled out of court.

"Staff continue to be very supportive of the organisation, but unenthusiastic about the private sector."

He was referring to the practice of bringing in additional design staff to work on highway maintenance and traffic maintenance schemes.

"What has been proposed is bringing together a hotchpotch of staff from different agencies and consultancies, some on a self-employed basis.

"It is quite legitimate to do this for specialist work but not when they become part of the core staff. About 25pc of staff are not employed directly by the council."

He explained to the D&S Times that he saw the self-employed as the biggest threat to permanent staff because they had no rights to holidays, sick pay or training.

"It is a way of getting people on the cheap. It is very frightening and needs to be stopped."

Using agencies meant vacancies were no longer advertised in the community according to the equal opportunities policy.

"My colleagues who are trying to keep the organisation afloat are sailing very close to the wind and doing it with the best intentions in the world," he claimed.

The committee decided the matter should be discussed by the joint staff council and then referred to the resources scrutiny committee.

Tuesday's cabinet meeting approved a strategy for procuring goods and outside services, which said a director would consult members about larger exercises "or where the future of staff might be a consideration".

In future, in-house services would be only one of many options