Rochdale Council paying union salaries

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John Bickley, UKIP Parliamentary Candidate for Heywood and Middleton

John Bickley, UKIP Parliamentary Candidate for Heywood and Middleton, is questioning why Rochdale Council pays the salaries of trades union representatives. He said: "It's come to my attention that Rochdale Council are paying four individuals who do no council work but spend all their time on trade union matters full time salaries of between £22,221>£26,276 per annum.

"This is outrageous.

"Why should local council tax payers be funding trade union salaries, especially as the unions support the Labour Party. This looks like political bias by the Council which is unacceptable. If a trade union wishes to employ full time staff in our area then they should pay for it, not council tax payers.

"However, this is typical of what happens in a Labour dominated council like Rochdale and where the local Labour Party candidate is sponsored by the Unite union. Their first loyalty is to the Labour party and the trade unions, not to voters and tax payers who pay their salaries.

"UKIP local council candidates want to reduce the number of councillors from 60 to 40 and cut their expenses. UKIP wouldn't allow the Council to pay the salaries of staff on trade union business. We're constantly being told by the Council that they're short of cash; well UKIP would save hundreds of thousands of pounds that could go on front line services by cutting councillor costs and stopping council tax payers's money going on trade union salaries (what other trade union costs are council tax payers unwittingly paying for?).

"Don't expect the Labour Party Parliamentary candidates or Labour councillors to stop this abuse of tax payers' money, turkeys don't vote for Christmas!"

Rochdale Council has not responded to a request for comment.