Friday, May 15, 2009
What does this statement say about Cllr Chris Abbott and Cllr George Dunning?
Below is a newspaper article from the Northern Echo dated 29th March 2008. In this article Cllr Abbott says of Colin Moore "As a chief executive, he has been brilliant. He saved the council £30m on the deal he got for us on equal pay."
Firstly as employment tribunals prove, the council under the leadership of Colin Moore, saved the council money regarding equal pay by underhanded means. One of the dinnerladies who was offered the pay settlement pittance of five thousand pounds, went to tribunal and won her rightful amount - £32,000. Something which featured on the front page of the Guardian newspaper but strangely failed to get a mention in the councils peoples, pride and progress magazine or on the councils website? What Mr Abbott also doesn't mention is that the union man who was supposed to be working on behalf of these lowly paid workers was actually working for Moore and the officers and who, when he had persuaded dinnerladies to settle for such a derisory sum, was given a job in management himself! Unfortunately this led him to being thrown out of the union that he had represented for thirty years. Yes lets all join in with Mr Abbotts applause at lowly paid dinnerladies being conned by Moore and his cronies. It's like I said the other day, Abbott and co. may regard this as a victory, but whats the victory worth when it's been won through stealth and cheating?
But lets also look at some other words that were used to describe Moores actions in different tribunals. We have deliberately disingenuous ( lying ) sharp practise, changing evidence overnight, bullying, intimidation, concealing, I was at the Tait tribunal where it was established that in Mr Moore and other officers concealing the truth about parking tickets that the council had acted illegally.
You could also throw in for good measure that Moore was in charge of a council with a £12,000,000 black hole in its budget, who messed up with Liberata at a huge cost to the council, who was involved in a massive conflict of interests regarding the 5 GP surgery which appeared in the Coatham plans from nowhere, who's actions whilst under Lib Dem control resulted in the council being downgraded to a two star authority and who surpressed an audit commission report which showed that the council never was a four star authority to begin with. We have him in a letter to the MP acting like the 'President' of the council, totally subventing the council in telling the MP that he will agree to meet her if she agrees to his requests, we have him totally subventing the council in him keeping a barristers opinion regarding the Coatham covenants secret, when the elected councillors who were on the cabinet had ordered that it be made public. We have him acting secretly regarding the council withdrawing support for TVR ( something that prompted a second call for his investigation ) and twice under his control, this council was found by the Ombudsman to have been guilty of maladministration.
Now, I ask you, are any of these documented facts consistent with Councillor Abbotts description of "As a chief executive, he has been brilliant".
Equally though, the article leaves George Dunning with egg on his face too. For here we have Mr Dunning attacking Colin Moore for his excessive pay and yet George Dunning let this absolute cowboy, leave this council with a two year enhanced pay deal worth THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND POUNDS! Not only that, he called for Moores investigation twice as leader of the opposition and yet when Moore announced his retirement Mr Dunning let him leave without as much as a question asked in anger and a glowing reference akin to Mr Abbotts, in the press?
They are such forty faced, hypocrites and all of these facts lead any normal person to ask the question what hypnotic hold has Colin Moore held over all of them?
Council leader joins row over high-paid executives
From the archive, first published Saturday 29th Mar 2008.
A COUNCIL leader has spoken out over a local authority pay row by criticising highly paid chief executives and referring to "people that run around after the highest salaries".Councillor George Dunning, the leader of the ruling Labour party on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, hit out at a previous administration in charge of the council responsible for increasing the pay given to its senior officers.Coun Dunning spoke out after the publication of a Town Hall Rich List by the Taxpayers' Alliance which revealed that a record number of North-East council officers earned more than £100,000-a-year in 2006-7.In Redcar, seven officers broke this limit, which Coun Dunning said was the result of decisions taken by a previous Liberal Democrat-Conservative-Independent coalition which took office in 2003, before losing control in May last year. He said: "My personal view on the fact that the coalition has left the new Labour administration with a legacy of the highest group of officers in the North-East on salaries over a £100,000 shows that the coalition knew nothing about the people of Redcar and Cleveland's feelings towards very high officers' salaries, hence they voted the coalition out."There are some local authority chiefs getting more than our Prime Minister and that cannot be correct."Having been a steel worker, working with people who work their socks off in difficult conditions to get a living wage, makes these salaries look like winning the Lottery."In Redcar and Cleveland, we want the best people for the job and who want to work for us, and not people that run around after the highest salaries."Three of those included in the list have since left the council, including chief executive Colin Moore, who earned £151,282 in 2006-7.Councillor Chris Abbott, leader of the Lib Dem group on the council, said the council officers in question had justified their increasing salaries.He said: "The council has only paid peanuts in the past and could not attract the top staff and as a result it showed in its performance."By paying the going rate for the job it means you get the best people."Referring to Mr Moore, he said: "As a chief executive, he has been brilliant. He saved the council £30m on the deal he got for us on equal pay."Meanwhile, Durham County Council said three of its senior officers who were included on the list had also left, and not been replaced.The authority confirmed that prior to his leaving, chief executive Mark Lloyd, who is due to take up a new role with Cambridgeshire County Council next month, had a salary range of between £151,000 and £190,000.A spokesman said: "To attract the best and brightest people to deliver value for money it is essential to pay a suitable wage."
Firstly as employment tribunals prove, the council under the leadership of Colin Moore, saved the council money regarding equal pay by underhanded means. One of the dinnerladies who was offered the pay settlement pittance of five thousand pounds, went to tribunal and won her rightful amount - £32,000. Something which featured on the front page of the Guardian newspaper but strangely failed to get a mention in the councils peoples, pride and progress magazine or on the councils website? What Mr Abbott also doesn't mention is that the union man who was supposed to be working on behalf of these lowly paid workers was actually working for Moore and the officers and who, when he had persuaded dinnerladies to settle for such a derisory sum, was given a job in management himself! Unfortunately this led him to being thrown out of the union that he had represented for thirty years. Yes lets all join in with Mr Abbotts applause at lowly paid dinnerladies being conned by Moore and his cronies. It's like I said the other day, Abbott and co. may regard this as a victory, but whats the victory worth when it's been won through stealth and cheating?
But lets also look at some other words that were used to describe Moores actions in different tribunals. We have deliberately disingenuous ( lying ) sharp practise, changing evidence overnight, bullying, intimidation, concealing, I was at the Tait tribunal where it was established that in Mr Moore and other officers concealing the truth about parking tickets that the council had acted illegally.
You could also throw in for good measure that Moore was in charge of a council with a £12,000,000 black hole in its budget, who messed up with Liberata at a huge cost to the council, who was involved in a massive conflict of interests regarding the 5 GP surgery which appeared in the Coatham plans from nowhere, who's actions whilst under Lib Dem control resulted in the council being downgraded to a two star authority and who surpressed an audit commission report which showed that the council never was a four star authority to begin with. We have him in a letter to the MP acting like the 'President' of the council, totally subventing the council in telling the MP that he will agree to meet her if she agrees to his requests, we have him totally subventing the council in him keeping a barristers opinion regarding the Coatham covenants secret, when the elected councillors who were on the cabinet had ordered that it be made public. We have him acting secretly regarding the council withdrawing support for TVR ( something that prompted a second call for his investigation ) and twice under his control, this council was found by the Ombudsman to have been guilty of maladministration.
Now, I ask you, are any of these documented facts consistent with Councillor Abbotts description of "As a chief executive, he has been brilliant".
Equally though, the article leaves George Dunning with egg on his face too. For here we have Mr Dunning attacking Colin Moore for his excessive pay and yet George Dunning let this absolute cowboy, leave this council with a two year enhanced pay deal worth THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY THOUSAND POUNDS! Not only that, he called for Moores investigation twice as leader of the opposition and yet when Moore announced his retirement Mr Dunning let him leave without as much as a question asked in anger and a glowing reference akin to Mr Abbotts, in the press?
They are such forty faced, hypocrites and all of these facts lead any normal person to ask the question what hypnotic hold has Colin Moore held over all of them?
Council leader joins row over high-paid executives
From the archive, first published Saturday 29th Mar 2008.
A COUNCIL leader has spoken out over a local authority pay row by criticising highly paid chief executives and referring to "people that run around after the highest salaries".Councillor George Dunning, the leader of the ruling Labour party on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, hit out at a previous administration in charge of the council responsible for increasing the pay given to its senior officers.Coun Dunning spoke out after the publication of a Town Hall Rich List by the Taxpayers' Alliance which revealed that a record number of North-East council officers earned more than £100,000-a-year in 2006-7.In Redcar, seven officers broke this limit, which Coun Dunning said was the result of decisions taken by a previous Liberal Democrat-Conservative-Independent coalition which took office in 2003, before losing control in May last year. He said: "My personal view on the fact that the coalition has left the new Labour administration with a legacy of the highest group of officers in the North-East on salaries over a £100,000 shows that the coalition knew nothing about the people of Redcar and Cleveland's feelings towards very high officers' salaries, hence they voted the coalition out."There are some local authority chiefs getting more than our Prime Minister and that cannot be correct."Having been a steel worker, working with people who work their socks off in difficult conditions to get a living wage, makes these salaries look like winning the Lottery."In Redcar and Cleveland, we want the best people for the job and who want to work for us, and not people that run around after the highest salaries."Three of those included in the list have since left the council, including chief executive Colin Moore, who earned £151,282 in 2006-7.Councillor Chris Abbott, leader of the Lib Dem group on the council, said the council officers in question had justified their increasing salaries.He said: "The council has only paid peanuts in the past and could not attract the top staff and as a result it showed in its performance."By paying the going rate for the job it means you get the best people."Referring to Mr Moore, he said: "As a chief executive, he has been brilliant. He saved the council £30m on the deal he got for us on equal pay."Meanwhile, Durham County Council said three of its senior officers who were included on the list had also left, and not been replaced.The authority confirmed that prior to his leaving, chief executive Mark Lloyd, who is due to take up a new role with Cambridgeshire County Council next month, had a salary range of between £151,000 and £190,000.A spokesman said: "To attract the best and brightest people to deliver value for money it is essential to pay a suitable wage."
// posted by Chris McGlade @ 1:29 AM 
