At our expense, unfortunately.
Send in the clowns? Don't bother, they're here ...
Step forward:
Councillor Andreas Tambourides, Licensing Committee, two scheduled meetings this year, sees his allowance rise by 54% from a stingy £9,974 to a slightly improved £15,333. Well done Andreas!
Councillor Brian Gordon, Policy & Performance OSC, two meetings scheduled, now gets £15,333. Did I hear you complaining about the Public Sector at the Full Council meeting, Brian?
Councillor John Marshall, Pension Fund, four meetings, £15,333: John's getting on a bit so this will help nicely towards his own retirement plans.
Councillor Alison Cornelius, Health OSC, five meetings: hope your health can stand up to the strain of so many exhausting meetings!
Councillor Joan Scannell, General Functions, five meetings:£15,333 - I like the sound of General Functions, nice and vague ...
Councillor Hugh Rayner, Bus Mgt OSC sub: eight meetings, steady on there, Hugh, but don't panic: think of the £15,333 coming your way!
Councillor Darrel Yawitch, Budget Perf OSC, nine meetings: £15,333 - young Darrel's a bit of a new favourite and has been given a big boy's post with a big boy's allowance to match ...
Councillor Wendy Prentice, Planning Environment, twelve meetings: Wendy, if I were you, I'd ask why you have to sit through ten more meetings than Councillor Tambourides for the same dosh ... of course, for all we know these are 12 meetings of only a few minutes each, but still ...
Now then, back in the real world ...
Did you know that, according to a 'GLA Economics' report in 2008, low pay is mainly concentrated in Outer London boroughs, and the second highest number of these workers lives in - go on, guess - yep, the London Borough of Barnet. 26,000 people, in fact, living on, or often below, an hourly rate of £7.05.
Of course, you may think that, for example, earning between £6-8 an hour as a careworker, rather than £10,000 per hour as a committee chair, and looking after the intimate personal needs of vulnerable elderly residents, rather than looking over a couple of reports, is perfectly acceptable. You may think the jobs that low paid workers do are an absolute doddle and deserve no more as a total annual pay amount than a Tory councillor can in some cases earn for less than two hours of meetings a year, (on top of their other allowance, of course) but if you do - well, I'm guessing that you are either a complete a***hole and/or a Tory councillor.
Send in the clowns? Don't bother, they're here ...
Step forward:
Councillor Andreas Tambourides, Licensing Committee, two scheduled meetings this year, sees his allowance rise by 54% from a stingy £9,974 to a slightly improved £15,333. Well done Andreas!
Councillor Brian Gordon, Policy & Performance OSC, two meetings scheduled, now gets £15,333. Did I hear you complaining about the Public Sector at the Full Council meeting, Brian?
Councillor John Marshall, Pension Fund, four meetings, £15,333: John's getting on a bit so this will help nicely towards his own retirement plans.
Councillor Alison Cornelius, Health OSC, five meetings: hope your health can stand up to the strain of so many exhausting meetings!
Councillor Joan Scannell, General Functions, five meetings:£15,333 - I like the sound of General Functions, nice and vague ...
Councillor Hugh Rayner, Bus Mgt OSC sub: eight meetings, steady on there, Hugh, but don't panic: think of the £15,333 coming your way!
Councillor Darrel Yawitch, Budget Perf OSC, nine meetings: £15,333 - young Darrel's a bit of a new favourite and has been given a big boy's post with a big boy's allowance to match ...
Councillor Wendy Prentice, Planning Environment, twelve meetings: Wendy, if I were you, I'd ask why you have to sit through ten more meetings than Councillor Tambourides for the same dosh ... of course, for all we know these are 12 meetings of only a few minutes each, but still ...
Now then, back in the real world ...
Did you know that, according to a 'GLA Economics' report in 2008, low pay is mainly concentrated in Outer London boroughs, and the second highest number of these workers lives in - go on, guess - yep, the London Borough of Barnet. 26,000 people, in fact, living on, or often below, an hourly rate of £7.05.
Of course, you may think that, for example, earning between £6-8 an hour as a careworker, rather than £10,000 per hour as a committee chair, and looking after the intimate personal needs of vulnerable elderly residents, rather than looking over a couple of reports, is perfectly acceptable. You may think the jobs that low paid workers do are an absolute doddle and deserve no more as a total annual pay amount than a Tory councillor can in some cases earn for less than two hours of meetings a year, (on top of their other allowance, of course) but if you do - well, I'm guessing that you are either a complete a***hole and/or a Tory councillor.
Last week, Councillor Dean Cohen, chairman of the Finchley & Golders Green Residents' Forum agreed to ask his eight lucky colleagues if they would care to voluntarily forego some or all of the 54% pay rise.
Any response yet, Dean?
My apologies to anyone suffering from coulrophobia, or indeed anyone suffering from a morbid fear of Tory councillors: and who could blame you?
I haven't been to a Planning Committee for a long time, but that is actually the one (and only) committee I have a certain amount of respect for. Well, not respect, let's say sympathy.
ReplyDeleteTheoretically, the members have a high workload, given the large amount of paperwork they have to work their way through.
I have never established if they make on-site visits, but their allowances may include that. (By the way, what is the collective noun for a load of planning councillors in a mini-bus, if that is how they get about?)
I think in reality, though, most members are just as idle as your other examples of untalented pond life, and simply leave the actual work to officers.
There does seem to be a wide variation between the amount of responsibility each Chair has, for the same pay, very odd, & yes,one might imagine that of all of them Planning might actually require a higher contribution - although of course the local Planning Forums do exist for a purpose. However, the question is whether the work required by any or all of these Chair posts deserves such generous allowances. More importantly, there is no moral justification whatsoever for more than doubling the pay, especially at this time, when ordinary workers are being expected to carry the burden of spending cuts, or even face the loss of their jobs. It is an apppalling act of self indulgence.
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