Stroud strike money will not go to voluntary groups

Selsey fields

Remember the public sector strike last year? Well many at the District Council took part. I heard that in Newcastle they estimated that the money from unpaid salaries totaled about £300,000. Well Newcastle City Council pledged to transfer all the salary savings it made from the strike action into its voluntary sector budget. I wrote officially to Stroud District to see if they could do the same - especially since we have cut funding to that sector.



Sadly the reply was no. The money goes back into the general pot. It is a bit our Council could not make a statement like Councillor Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle council, who said: "Losing a day’s pay due to industrial action will have a big impact on many of our workers. It’s important they see that their lost earnings will be put to a positive use through the Newcastle Fund, ultimately supporting the voluntary sector that helps those with the most need in the city."

Kevin Curley, chief executive of the local infrastructure group Navca, commented: "It would have been very easy for Newcastle City Council to quietly pocket the savings from the strike. I hope others in the public sector will follow Newcastle’s lead and put their savings to good use by supporting voluntary organisations tackling poverty."