We’re being silenced by council, claim workers

Dec 17 2008 by Lorna Hughes, Birkenhead News

LIBRARY and sports centre staff who could lose their jobs in the council’s cultural services shake-up say they are being denied their right to speak out on the controversial proposals.

Workers say managers have warned them to stay out of the furore over plans to close 14 libraries and three sports centres and advised them to remain impartial.

Several members of staff from closure-threatened council buildings across the borough spoke of their concerns at a public meeting on the proposals at Woodchurch Leisure Centre on Friday.

Wirral Council told the News staff were free to sign or organise petitions outside work hours - but acknowledged workers had been told to decline petition requests from worried members of the public.

One woman working at a leisure centre, who asked not to be named, said: “The managers all came out the other week and told us that we’re not allowed to do petitions or speak to the press and they’ll come down hard on anyone who does. The way it’s come across has been quite intimidating.

“They don’t want petitions in the libraries or the sports centres but where else are the people who would be affected by this going to sign them?

“Apparently it came up at a managers’ meeting and afterwards we were all told we must stay impartial.

“How can you say that to people who might lose their jobs?”

More than 50 members of the public attended Friday’s heated meeting, which saw Woodchurch residents imploring politicians who attended - included Upton councillors Tom Anderson and Tony Smith, Wirral West MP Stephen Hesford and Esther McVey, Conservative candidate for Wirral West at the next General Election - to work together to keep the centre open.

A spokesman for Wirral Council said: “Employees are fully entitled to protest and make comment on any proposals which affect them. They can do this through the council’s normal consultative arrangements, either through trade union representatives or directly at staff briefings/consultative events. They can also raise any concerns with their immediate line manager.

“The council does not oppose staff signing or organising petitions or attending organised protests, however it does require that any of this activity is conducted outside of their working hours.

“Staff have been advised that they should decline any requests via a member of the public to conduct or leave a petition on council premises, for instance at reception desks or in One Stop Shops.”

l Read more from the Woodchurch Leisure Centre meeting on our website, www.wirralnews.co.uk