Since releasing our report last summer on Taxpayer funding of trade unions, more and more stories have emerged highlighting examples public sector employees working full time on trade union duties. Thanks to hard work over at the Guido Fawkes blog and continuous attention on our blog, momentum is building against this atrocious use of taxpayers’ money.
Today the Conservative Group at Bradford City Council have revealed that the local authority is spending £300,000 a year on the wages and offices of trade union staff. Councillor Miller, Leader of the Conservative group on the council stated “council’s have a duty to ensure value for money for the taxpayer and I call upon the Labour leadership to respond to the Minister’s call for the merits of union officials and office facilities funded by councils to be urgently reviewed”.
That is a lot of money for an authority with significant pressures on its finances. In December last year Councillor Greenwood, the Leader of Bradford Council said: “The cuts for the next financial year will still have a massive affect on us. It’s still several thousand jobs almost certainly, it’s still a massive effect on frontline services and it’s still people not getting the services they so desperately need ... the Council had been taking action for months to secure substantial savings, including cutting bureaucracy and duplication, and prioritising our available resources on the vital services local people need.”
If money is so tight at the council – and they are trying to deliver value for money, surely Councillor Greenwood will support saving £300,000 by ending taxpayer funding of trade union officials? The unions should pay for their own staff through membership subs, not with our money. The £300,000 spent in Bradford should be used to provide services for residents, not subsidise trade unions.
If you want to help us put pressure on politicians to stop this gross subsidy, we’ve written about what you can do here.