8 December (Part 1) - The squeezed bottom
Bexley
council announced in the summer that it has embarked on another programme of front line staff cuts.
There was a strike on 10th July while the council proposed
that a further 300 jobs be chopped while creating the new title of Deputy Chief Executive. Despite what they say…
…one could easily get the impression that Bexley’s senior staff are primarily interested in
looking after themselves. So what do the official figures say? Unfortunately
one can only get access to the situation last April but if senior management has
been culling themselves it is not very obvious.
School staff
have been steadily drifting across to Academies so the figures there are of
no value and of little interest, but the number of well paid council staff
dropped by only one in 2013/14 compared to the previous year.
Those earning in excess of £80,000 (and less than £110,000) have actually gone up by three!
Further up the tree five people stayed more of less the same but nevertheless
managed to take home around £5,000 more than in the previous year.
Titanic O’Neill may well be shuffling the deckchairs but senior staff are
proving adept at taking to the life boats while junior staff are going down with the ship.