Call to end taxpayer funding of trades unions

Councillor Richard Farnell

The Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups on Rochdale Council have called for the funding of trades unions from council tax payers money to be ended.

The cost of this funding in Rochdale is £126,000 per year and the local political groups' case is one supported by central government.

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has published advice on how local authorities can "deliver sensible savings by reviewing taxpayer funding of trade unions".

He said: “I believe that trade unions continue to play an important and constructive role in the modern workplace. But for too long in the public sector, trade unions have received taxpayer funding that is poor value for money and inadequately controlled. Reducing such public subsidies to trade unions is a practical way that councils can save money, to keep council tax down and protect frontline services for local residents - including union members themselves.

“Trade union activities and campaigning in local councils should be funded by members’ subscriptions, not bankrolled by the taxpayer. Freedom from state dependency will also mean that trade union bosses will better reflect and respond to the wishes and views of the grassroots members who pay the bill.”

Councillor Richard Farnell, Rochdale Council Cabinet Member for Corporate Services, said: "The Council has had to reduce the workforce by several hundreds of staff and make massive cuts over the past two years. Without the help and support of the trades unions this would have been impossible.

"Our employees have faced an extremely difficult and worrying time and it is important that they were able to approach their staff representatives for independent advice and support. It would be a very cruel employer who denied staff access to this help when they needed it the most.

"If Mr Pickles had not cut Rochdale's grants by over a staggering £100million, we wouldn't need to spend anywhere near as much on providing advice and support to staff facing job cuts. It's a fact that Rochdale has faced the biggest government cuts, despite having some of the greatest needs in the country.

"Once the cuts have been implemented and the turmoil of job losses has settled down, we will look again at the money we spend on giving time off to trade union representatives to support and advise staff."