"Get a grip," Whitehead tells Tory Council
6th June 2011
Alan Whitehead, Labour MP for Southampton Test, has urged Council bosses to stop letting petty bureaucracy get in the way of ending the current industrial dispute.
Talks between Council bosses and their staff have been postponed for nearly a month due to what Tory Council leader Royston Smith described as “diary clashes.”
It is normal practice for industrial action to be postponed and for staff to resume normal working practices while talks are underway.
Dr Whitehead, who led the City Council from 1984 – 1992, said:
“Delaying negotiations means that Southampton residents are going to be faced with another month of industrial action that is completely, 100% avoidable.
“It is frankly beyond belief that Tory Council chiefs cannot get their diaries together to meet with staff representatives sooner. I cannot understand how the Tories can be so lackadaisical about such an important issue while every day more rubbish goes uncollected and more revenue is lost.
“This is ultimately a question of poor leadership. Someone at the top of the Council needs to get a grip on this problem- now.”
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