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More bin men not pen-pushers

Clyde Loakes

SO sandal-wearing, down-with-the-kids-in-the-skateboard-park Waltham Forest Council leader Clyde Loakes thinks senior Town Hall staff should get paid more.

Mr Loakes has been checking out the money on offer from other local authorities.

In this week�s Guardian (the local rag not the national one) he is quoted as: "If you look in the national Guardian newspaper job supplement every Wednesday you can see the pay being offered for council jobs by other authorities.

"We are significantly behind in what we as a council should be paying our staff�.

The supplement he refers to is a disgracefully thick pull-out carrying hundreds of adverts for useless positions at councils and other tax-funded organisations up and down the country.

I would never encourage anyone to read the Guardian (except your local one of course) but if you�re at a loose end next Wednesday take a look at this job supplement.

I�m sure you�ll be amazed at the number of out-reach workers and co-ordinating officers needed to keep the country running.

It would be funny if it wasn�t all being paid for out of the public pot at a time when this Government is putting the tax-squeeze on everyone.

These non-jobs are created by people in other non-jobs.

And so it goes on. Once you�re in the magic circle you can carry one getting non-job after non-job. Just check out Wednesday�s Guardian.

And it works as well. Mr Loakes obviously believes that Waltham Forest needs more of them.

Instead of increasing pay in line with other councils, why doesn�t Loakesy (as I�m sure somebody has called at some time) pay the non-jobs what they are worth. That�ll be nothing in most cases.

And maybe that might free up a bit more cash for extra bin men and street cleaners. We could all do with a few more of them.

8:50am Saturday 25th October 2003

Related Links
http://www.walthamforestguardian.co.uk/display.var.426443.0.loakes_give_em_more_cash.php