Union facility time only lightly trimmed

One of the cuts that the Labour administration is making in the back office is in what is called union facility time. This is a legal entitlement for union organisers to use work time to organise. In many organisations it is considered more efficient if a few people do this full-time rather than many do it part-time. In Ealing the budget for this is £250K per annum this year. This is to be cut by 20% or £50K, but not the next financial year 2011/2, the year after.

When compared to frontline cuts of 50% in many areas valued by residents it seems strange indeed that union facility time should only be cut by 20% and that this should be delayed until the year after next. It seems to me that this is another example of Labour having the wrong priorities.