Mark Chiverton told VB this afternoon that in his 37 years working for Isle of Wight Council, he has never seen such a gulf between the centre of the organisation and its staff.
Over 150 Isle of Wight council workers (who are Unison members) gathered today and delivered their vote of no confidence in Chief Executive Steve Beynon and Leader of the council, David Pugh.
The lack of confidence was widespread and strongly expressed at the meeting.
Mr Chiverton told VB that the broad mix of council staff expressed their dismay over a variety of subjects, including the forthcoming budget proposal and the lack of negotiation by the council over the cut in workers’ car allowance.
They stressed the importance of having a union representative available to them during these times of unprecedented change and expressed great shock and bemusement at the way that Mr Chiverton has been treated.
The long period of bullying and harassment exemplified the culture of the organisation which has led to a total lack of confidence of elected members.
Mr Chiverton told us that the room could have been filled over and over with council staff expressing the same views.
He finished by saying that this vote of no confidence should be a clear message to senior management and councillors that they need to listen to the concerns and aspirations of their staff.
Mark Chiverton is involved in a dispute with the IW council where he claims that he was told to resign his job or stand down as the Labour candidate at the forthcoming election. The council claim this isn’t the case.
