STRIKE THREAT AFTER SINGLE STATUS DECISION
Argyll and Bute councillors met at Kilmory on Wednesday afternoon with one item on the agenda - to make a decision on Single Status.
The Single Status issue has been rumbling on for up to five years, and involves a mass job evaluation of council staff. This evaluation process is part of a national agreement which the council is required to put into action locally. Known as the “Red Book” Scottish agreement, it was drawn up between the employers and the trade unions representing local government employees in Scotland.
The agreement required each council to undertake a job evaluation exercise for all employees who had been on the former APT&C, residential and manual workers conditions of service. At the end of the job evaluation exercise, when putting results into operation the council was required to harmonise conditions of service between the groups to ensure that all employees move to a common set of conditions of service.
The original imple-mentation date for this exercise was intended to be 1 April 2002, but this was then revised nationally to 1 April 2004.
Management at the council came up with revised proposals on Single Status prior to this week’s meeting, following a period of consultation and discussion with unions.
To open proceedings on Wednesday, union representative Donald Brown, of Unison, was allowed to make a presentation on the union view of the council’s plans.
High on Mr Brown’s list of concerns was the matter of standardising the working week to 37 hours. The union was keen that a standard 37 hour working week be implemented, based on an hourly rate, as opposed to the two tier system proposed by the council, where some employees would work 35 hours per week.
Unison was also looking for an agreement on pay and grading assimilation which would allow manual workers - currently on fixed grades - to join a single pay structure alongside other staff, using length of experience as a guide on deciding where each individual would join the pay scale.
In proposing the motion to the floor, Depute Leader Councillor Robert Macintyre urged acceptance of the council’s proposals, saying: “We have reviewed the pay model and as a result the number of people who will be red circled (ie will have their pay frozen) after three years has been reduced by 74 percent from 698 to 180”. He went on: “The cost of implementing the new pay structure and conditions (expected to be around £2.9m) will be funded from a mix of sources, including a reduction in the council’s workforce by 136 posts.”
Cllr Macintyre added that the council would aim to manage this process by deleting vacant posts, redeploying staff and improving efficiencies within the council. He also indicated that staff would be offered training and development opportunities to improve their position in the new structure.
The motion concluded with a reminder that the council had a duty not only to employees to provide fair and equitable terms of employment, but also to the people of Argyll and Bute to provide cost-effective services and maintain council taxes at affordable levels.
After a 15 minute recess to consider the motion, the council reconvened and voted in favour of the motion proposed by Councillor Macintyre.
Donald Brown was scathing following the decision, saying: “I condemn the council for deviating from the national agreement. This will result in reduced conditions of service for Argyll and Bute Council employees, and is a means of recouping the cost of the job evaluation exercise.
We plan to hold a union meeting next Thursday, at which point we will be requesting that a ballot be held of all employees. If they accept the council’s proposals, that will be the end of the matter. If they don’t, then we will be proposing an all-out strike - there will be no messing about with one-day walkouts.”


Tragedy on Coal Pier car park
On Monday afternoon an elderly man died after his car drove off the side of the Coal Pier car park in Dunoon and plunged into the Firth of Clyde.
The tragic accident happened shortly after 3pm when 75-year-old Duncan MacGillivray of Dunoon apparently lost control of his Vauxhall Astra.
The emergency services were on the scene almost immediately although at that stage it was unclear if there was anyone trapped in the car. The police officers who were first on the scene were unable to access the car, however when the firefighters arrived they quickly lowered an extended ladder into the water and climbed down to the submerged vehicle. Within moments everybody’s worst fears were confirmed.
Also on scene were a Royal Navy helicopter from HMS Gannet in Prestwick, the RNLI lifeboat from Helensburgh and a Coastguard team from Dunoon.
At 3.25pm the seat belt of the Astra was cut and the body was removed to a waiting lifeboat which sped round to the ramp at the main pier and transferred the man to a waiting ambulance, which took him to Dunoon General Hospital. Sadly, however, all attempts to revive Mr MacGillivray were in vain.
A police diving team confirmed that there was no-one else in the vehicle. The car was subsequently removed from the sea bed by a crane.
The Coal Pier car park is a council-run, chargeable, car park and the question as to why there is no barrier or fence on that part of the jetty must now be asked. A kerb running along the back of the parking bays is clearly not sufficient.
One onlooker at the scene said: “Why is there not a fence here? The council are charging for use of this car park and it is terrible that they are putting lives at risk; all it takes is a slip of the clutch or a wrong gear being used and the consequences could be dire - as has sadly happened today.”
The Observer was also contacted by Alan Kirk from Loch Eck who actually sent a letter in to the Safety Valve section in August last year regarding the safety aspect of this particular car park.
Mr Kirk was saddened and angry that his concerns over the lack of barrier had now been realised. He said: “I am extremely sad about the whole situation. I knew something like this would happen one day; it’s tragic. I am also angry because this car park is council run and if they are charging people to park there then they should be taking care of it, and ensuring that it is safe, which it is obviously not.”
We contacted Argyll and Bute Council to ask why this section has not been made safer. A spokesperson for the council told us: “We are deeply sorry that there was a loss of life and our sympathy goes out to the gentleman’s family at this time.
“We are awaiting feedback from the police and our officers will be carrying out a thorough investigation into the cause of the accident. We will be reviewing the arrangements at the coal jetty and any improvements required following that review will be implemented.”
On Wednesday morning The Observer received a phone call from a concerned local resident asking why the jetty had not been closed to the public whilst this investigation was taking place. In response, the council spokesperson said: “A risk assessment is being carried out today (Wednesday). Subject to the findings of this, any necessary action will be taken.”
Police investigations are ongoing and as such Constable Roger Miller at Dunoon Police Office would like to hear from any witnesses to the incident. He can be contacted on 01369 763000.


BLACKCRAIG WINDFARM BACK ON
Argyll Windfarms Ltd, the company looking to build a wind farm at the top of Black Craig hill, near Toward, has re-submitted a planning application to Argyll and Bute Council for the development. The original application was withdrawn in April this year in response to concerns from Scottish Natural Heritage and Argyll and Bute Council over potential landscape and visual impacts.
The new proposal reduces the number of turbines from nineteen to sixteen, and turbine height has been reduced to 100 metres from ground level to blade tip. Five turbines originally located at the top of the hill have been removed and replaced by two turbines at a lower level.
The proposed site lies within the Glenstriven Estate and will occupy an area of around 509 hectares (1257 acres) on hills between Glen Fyne and Inverchaolain Glen, with Glen Kin to the north.
Philip Norris of CARES Cowal and Renewable Energy Sense said of the latest application: “This is a minor variation to the original application and will make very little difference. This site is on a ridge on one of the highest ranges of local hills. It is close to the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park and will be seen from there, and will also diminish the beauty of the nearby Kyles of Bute National Scenic Area.”
The developers claim that there is scope to provide ‘positive benefits as a result of the scheme. These include the implementation of a Habitat Management Plan, the creation of jobs and the opportunity for the community to ‘part-own’ the windfarm.
In the documentation accompanying the application, Argyll Windfarms Ltd admits that there are likely to be ‘significant visual impacts’, given the inherent nature of wind turbines, but that steps will be taken to mitigate these. The company also states that their overall strategy was to create a windfarm with a ‘cohesive design which best related to the surrounding landscape.’
Philip Norris, however, remains unconvinced, saying: “The fact remains that this is a completely inappropriate site for a windfarm. It will be visible from Bute, the Ayrshire and Inverclyde coasts and from Cowal itself – including parts of Dunoon.
“The combined impact of this development alongside the proposed Corlarach windfarm right next door is unthinkable, and to my mind should be a ‘no-no.’
“It is, however, up to the council, and I hope and trust that the planners will exercise some common sense here.”
He concluded: “There is an unhealthy competition underway here between West Coast Energy (Corlarach) and Argyll Windfarms Ltd (Black Craig) to be successful in their separate applications which will not benefit either local people or the environment in the long term.”


Kay calls for action to restore public confidence
Professor Neil Kay has stepped up his campaign to bring officials to book over the Western Ferries “Users’ Charter” affair.
Professor Kay wrote to the Scottish Information Commissioner in 2006 to request the release of details of what were termed “Users’ Charter” meetings between the Scottish Executive, Argyll and Bute Council and Western Ferries during 2004 and 2005.
The information finally arrived on August 31, and the contents (as revealed in last week’s Dunoon Observer) have led Professor Kay to seriously question the actions of public servants in both the Scottish Executive and the council.
In the latest development, Professor Kay this week wrote to both Dick Walsh, Leader of Argyll and Bute Council, and current Scottish Government Transport Minister asking for “immediate and decisive” action to “restore public confidence” (see Safety Valve, page 9).
Neil Kay is Emeritus Professor in the Economics Department at Strathclyde University as well as holding various professorships in England and abroad. Hemaintains that the existence of these meetings had only become publicly known through a remark made by Gordon Ross, Managing Director of Western Ferries and reported in the Dunoon Observer, that the (then) Executive had responded positively to his proposals for a “Users’ Charter”.
According to Professor Kay, since Mr Ross had also made it clear separately that any such “Users’ Charter” would be contingent on Western being sole operator of vehicle carrying services Gourock-Dunoon, such meetings clearly had potentially serious public interest implications.
Professor Kay said this week: “There are serious inconsistencies here between what was being said in public by both the Transport Minister and Argyll and Bute Council, and what officials in both organisations were actually doing.
“I honestly think however that elected council representatives, including Dick Walsh, spoke in all sincerity about this issue, unaware that their officials and Executive civil servants were working to not only anticipate, but actively help create a Western monopoly of vehicle-carrying on this route.”
The issue has also been seized upon by Dunoon Pier Pressure Group, which, through a letter from J Cameron (Ronnie) Smith in today’s Safety Valve, claims that council officials made no attempt to argue for what the community in Dunoon clearly wanted. Mr Smith added: “I believe that civil servants in Edinburgh were almost acting as consultants to Western Ferries and forgetting their public responsibilities.”
He concluded: “Both the council and Executive ‘organ grinders’ should be aware that the ‘monkey’ has been calling the tune for some time. Across different administrations, the civil servants have actually been in power, and nothing has changed in that respect.”