Since the Tories were elected in May, industrial relations have changed dramatically in the Council. Gone are the old days of Councillor/union direct consultations, which with the strategic partnering (aka privatisation) agenda of the Tories has created much concern, anxiety and suspicion amongst union members. Especially when the new culture has even seen union officials being warned off 'lobbying' leading councillors.
However, I attended as an observer my first Cabinet meeting on 30th August - only the third formal Cabinet since the election. One of the items on the agenda was the 'change management plan' and moving that forward. Although I entirely oppose that privatisation agenda - why do we want to use Council Tax monies to line the pockets of private company shareholders, based on the mainland, when any value for money benefits could take up to a decade, with the potential loss of jobs and earnings to the Island economy? - I was very pleased to hear the Council Leader invite the Unison Branch Secretary Mark Chiverton to address the Cabinet about his members' concerns. Of course Mark is a longstanding friend and party comrade - I was his Agent at the recent general election - and I was a member myself of the Councill Unison branch for 9 years up to 1998- but I was very pleased to see this thawing of indistrial relations.
Of course this gesture by the Leader may only be tokenistic in the overall scheme of things, but I am a strong proponent that talk is better than conflict - 'jaw, jaw - not war, war' as Churchill said !
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