Celtic Knot

It is certainly news to the many people who have just been made redundant, to the staff who are planning strike action to stop it and to the students who will miss lessons because of it. Sheffield College are changing its priorities from providing Sheffielder's with the skills and qualifications they need to be employable to chasing contracts in the far east!

Lots of people keep spreading untruths about Brighton Council, which does not have an overall majority of Greens so they can only ever do things with the support of other parties. I am impressed with what they have done on issues of inequality for instance. When elected, they promised more openness and democracy. They began with arguably the most important and difficult decisions – those on the city council budget. Budget planning transparency They’ve begun publishing annual budget proposals earlier and with more detail so that they can be scrutinised by everyone, ahead of time, and making this transparent to all – other political parties, citizens and the media. Budget planning engagement. Sheffield could learn a lot from this. Continuing their desire to be more open and inclusive, they hold regular meetings during the budget setting process with other political parties, unions and community representatives. Living Wage for council employees They’ve introduced a Living Wage for council employees. The council pays at least a Living Wage of £7.45 of an hour to all in-house employees and requires a Living Wage option from all bidders for council contracts. All the council’s Home Care contractors have adopted the Living Wage and we hope to roll this out to other providers. As a result we have won formal Living Wage Foundation accreditation. Sheffield has contracted out lots of its services to companies that don't pay a living wage. Reducing senior management spend Brighton council now spends less on senior management than it has in a decade. Reducing ratio between the highest and lowest paid They’ve brought down the ratio between the highest and lowest paid council staff to just over 10:1 by significantly reducing the Chief Executive’s salary and increasing the lowest pay grades. Neighbourhood Governance pilots They introduced pilots for Neighbourhood Governance schemes, which support communities to take local decisions with local budgets. The two pilots – in the areas of Hollingdean & Stanmer, Whitehawk and Bristol Estate – are progressing well and the forums are currently exploring options to become self-funding. In Sheffield we've scrapped Community Assemblies and now voters feel they have no say on local issues.

The last poll in Brighton showed Caroline Lucas had a 10% lead!

Great to hear there are so many nice folk around in our city! This has cheered me up!

Cut executives pay. Employ people to catch and fine people who drop litter or let their dog mess on the pavement. Generate electricity from renewable energy by installing solar power in schools and on council houses. However this is not going to find the massive amounts needed. The "easy fruit" has already been picked and the Council are going to have to make some very difficult decisions. They should avoid cutting Social Care as lives will be at stake if this is cut further.

Great to see the Green Party leading in this poll! They should be considered a major party and given a place in the TV election debates. They beat the Lib Dems in the Euros, have more members than UKIP in the UK (if you count the Scottish Greens) and have the best MP in the House of Commons!

Strike ballot was 85.7% in favour of strike action. ---------- Post added 13-01-2015 at 22:03 ---------- Annie is right, many people have now accepted voluntary redundancy. But they didn't have much choice! ---------- Post added 13-01-2015 at 22:05 ---------- There are about 15 people that are being made compulsorily redundant. ---------- Post added 13-01-2015 at 22:34 ---------- If you would like to support the lecturers there is a petition here. https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/sheffcol Please try to influence the Governors so that strikes can be avoided.

75 redundancies have been announced at Sheffield College. ---------- Post added 22-12-2014 at 16:32 ---------- UCU members are currently balloting on strike action. ---------- Post added 22-12-2014 at 16:33 ---------- The college has proposed a complete restructuring of some college departments and the indications are that more will follow. ---------- Post added 22-12-2014 at 16:35 ---------- The college is proposing to make changes to lecturers pay structures and arrangements.