Pay freeze for bosses, pay cut for staff

Hundreds of staff at Salford City Council will lose up to £2,100 a year under a proposed pay review — but bosses will only have their pay frozen.

Public sector union UNISON has called the move — which is linked to the council pledging to give staff the Living Wage —- “appalling”.

More than 1,000 lower paid staff will get a pay rise to £7.45 an hour — the rate for the Living Wage outside of London -— but 629 staff will see their salary reduced.

Salford city mayor Ian Stewart said pay cuts were “regretful” but the managers’ pay freeze was “effectively a pay cut”.

Stewart said almost half of the council’s workers would not be affected by the pay review. However, more than 600 staff earning over £21,000 — 11% of the workforce — will lose out if the plan goes ahead.

Pay cuts will come into force in April 2014, while pay rises would be given this April.

Steven North, Salford branch manager of UNISON, said: “Times are really tough and some of our members are having to choose between food and heating so this is the last thing they need.”

Elsewhere in the north west, Bolton College has become one of the first colleges in the region to sign up to the Living Wage.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-21195787

www.unisonnw.org/unison-commends-bolton-college-living-wage-commitment/