City launches crackdown on huge bonuses paid to workmen

11 October 2006

Highways workers in Birmingham are facing a crackdown on bonus payments after it was revealed certain staff were more than doubling their salaries through extra payments – some of which were handed out for just showing up.
Road workers employed by the city council are being paid £4,500 a year just for being on the standby list for late night jobs, such as gully clearing and bollard repairs.
The council admitted this week some staff with responsibilities including painting lines on roads were earning up to £53,000 a year, because of the extra payments.
The huge payouts were revealed in leaked documents prepared by the council as a pay survey.
The document also revealed one employee earned £91,000 – including £15,000 in stand-by payments alone – this exceeds the annual income of council leader Mike Whitby, who earns £67,000, by £24,000.
Alan Rudge, cabinet member for equalities and human resources, has promised to end the payments and level out pay across the authority after blaming the previous administration for the culture of extra payments. He said: ‘I came into office two years ago and inherited a mess. The system is a muddle. It should have been faced up to and dealt with by previous administrations.
‘The rewards for some positions clearly do not reflect the jobs – job descriptions will be accurate and pay rates transparent – people will be paid a fair rate for their work.
‘In particular, caring jobs will be given the recognition they deserve, some will lose out, some by a considerable amount, but we will put protection in place.’
The council could also face possible sex discrimination action as the bonuses were only available to jobs in mostly male-dominated areas and not domestic and caring professions, predominately carried out by women.

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