Clash over staff move out of town

A WAR of words has broken out after MP Michael Meacher blasted Oldham Council’s chief executive over the “diabolical” way staff at a contact centre have been treated.

The Oldham West and Royton MP wrote to Chief Executive Charlie Parker demanding answers over council plans to relocate the staff out of Oldham to Rochdale.

Workers, unions and Labour leaders were outraged last month following the council’s decision to move 43 staff from Henshaw House, Oldham, to an “isolated industrial estate” in Rochdale as part of a merger of some operations with Rochdale Council.

But Mr Parker defended the move — saying relocating staff was the right decision and will result in immediate savings.

In his letter, Mr Meacher said: “The Unity Partnership was legally contracted to bring jobs to the town, reduce costs and improve services to local people. Instead the organisation is to be allowed to relocate out of town, in the most undesirable, hard-to-reach area imaginable, which, in some cases, will mean present staff will have to use three buses to reach the destination.

“This along with the extra travelling time and the costs of extra child care is in my view a diabolical way to treat staff.”

He added: “I am appalled at the proposals to relocate and the lack of will to prevent this.”

He demanded to know what efforts were being made by councillors and officers to prevent the move, and who would take responsibility for moving jobs and services out of the town.

He also asked Mr Parker about who would tackle the issue of the legal breach of the Unity Trust contract.

Mr Parker responded: “The decision to relocate the contact centre was not taken lightly but it is considered to be the right decision given the council’s current budget pressures and our agreed strategy of working more closely with Rochdale.”

Mr Parker admitted the move would cause some disruption for staff, but said it would ultimately safeguard jobs. He said staff would be compensated for additional travel expenses during a period of time,.

Mr Parker said Mr Meacher’s claims that Unity had broken a contractual agreement was “simply not true” as it had increased jobs by 30 since the start of the contract.