'Not my fault' says Martin Winter, as Doncaster Council dumps library jobs till only FOUR qualified staff are left in the entire BOROUGH – then has to start hiring them back again...
MARTIN Winter has launched an attack on his OWN authority's library reorganisation fiasco... that h
as now been SCRAPPED after a string of workers was paid off!
In an incredible public outburst, the Doncaster Mayor claimed the "own goal" – that has resulted in redundant library staff being asked to return as RELIEF workers – was badly managed by the council.
Now distancing himself from the backlash over the overturned closure of customer service centres, Mayor Winter blasted that:
- There had been a "fundamental dispute" over the model used for the libraries' reorganisation
- He personally felt the project was WRONG
- The decision to create customer service centres then take them out had come at a ridiculously high cost
- The situation had been handled in a less than dignified way
The Newsletter can reveal that up to 39 library positions have been left vacant, by staff encouraged into redundancy or early retirement by being told they would have to re-apply for their own jobs.
UNISON calculated there to be 535 working hours now unfilled in libraries and just FOUR qualified library staff now remain in the entire Doncaster borough – compared to 22 in 2005!
Mayor Winter's remarks came after he was invited to a Bawtry Town Council meeting, by the town's mayor George Spencer.
The Doncaster Mayor went on to say that:
- He suffers great personal frustration over the way DMBC staff are managed
- Supplies the political vision and overdrive but is NOT responsible for subsequent handling of initiatives, and has NO control over staffing issues
- It is vital to improve communication at a local level, between DMBC and town and parish councils.
In a partial defence of the initial library plan, Mr Winter claimed his old enemy, former council managing director Susan Law, was behind the idea of one-stop shops in libraries!
Mayor Winter said Susan Law's intention was to attract more people in, to use the libraries.
UNISON spokesman Jim Board said: "What has happened is that the library service has effectively been turned into a relief service, and in my view workers should never have been dismissed.
"Some did want to go, but a substantial number would not have gone if they had not become so demoralised after the way they were treated.
"The impact of all this has swept right across the library service and hampered the ability of libraries to provide services such as reading groups. There is also a great deal of lone working going on, which creates a substantial safety risk. The whole situation is an absolute
farce."
The libraries saga reached a crescendo this summer, when a glut of prolific authors backed the library workers in their fight against cuts to the service.
Employees have suffered months of uncertainty over their futures. They were first warned of restructuring in January this year.
All posts were to be deleted, they were told, and staff would have to apply for their positions again.
Later, invitations to apply for voluntary early retirement or
voluntary redundancy were issued. Some opted to work three months notice.
Their plight was revealed by the Newsletter, after they were ironically forced to close libraries on World Book Day – March 6 – to attend a seminar at Doncaster Civic Theatre, and be told how to write CVs to re-apply for their own jobs!
In May, workers lashed out after being told children's summer entertainments were not to go ahead, and that the usual donations from parish and town councils towards these were to be refused.
Chris Fitt, the former manager of children's reading development, left her job with regret, after saying: "The style of management is disrespectful to library staff at all levels and in particular to those who are most senior."
She insisted then that community links and relationships were suffering, and was concerned that her 'vital' post had been left unfilled.
Proposals outlined in initial council consultation documents suggested 34 jobs would be lost in the planned re-organisation.
Doncaster Council's managing director, Paul Hart, said: "We are undertaking further evaluation of our libraries and customer service centres to ensure that we deliver a quality, cost effective library service in Doncaster, that meets the needs of our residents.
"Staff and trade unions have been consulted on possible changes throughout the whole process and we are keeping everyone concerned fully informed."
