UNION members have failed to force a rethink of plans to slash overtime and unsocial hours payments at Harrow Council.
More than 300 people, who did not have to be a member of the union, supported an application lodged last Friday to review the cabinet committees January 19 decision to consult over raising wages for the lowest paid, cutting salaries for the highest paid and reducing weekend working deals in a bid to save more than £850,000 over two years.
Unisons Harrow branch said: In calling-in the decision, it was Unisons intention to make the leader Bill Stephenson and his Labour administration see sense and resume discussions with Unison so that issues in negotiations could be resolved around the table and not on the front page of newspapers.
However, we were informed our notice had been refused on the grounds it was unconstitutional and did not comply with the councils criteria. The format had not been adhered to, despite the fact that a clear challenge had been presented on equality grounds a potential human rights challenge.
A successful application would have meant a cross-party panel of councillors scrutinising the proposals further.
Mr Stephenson said: "The Unison notice failed to state any of grounds for call in described in the constitution and was rejected by the chair and vice-chair of the overview and scrutiny committee following legal advice."
