I recently whiled away a couple of idle hours studying Birmingham City Council’s ‘payments to suppliers over £500’ website and found a fund of fascinating information.
Alas, like Johnny Nash, I have found that, after perusing these spreadsheets, there are more questions than answers.
I have asked the council for some of these answers but so far, a week later, none has been forthcoming. I shall wait a little longer.
Meanwhile, though, for a bankrupt council with rats as big as cats because of the bin strike, it is interesting to note Birmingham spent £777,412 allowing 60 members of staff to take time off for trade union business (eight unions altogether, including the strikers of Unite).
It seems 46 of these people spent more than half their working day on union business. This is for the year 2023-24. The previous year, the cost was £667,293. In 2018-19 it was £472,666.
With everyone seeking a solution to the bin strike, surely one way of saving money would be to axe time off for union business. But then how would they plan the next strike?
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