Friday, 12 August 2011
Judgement Delayed
Despite our best efforts, it looks as if the judgement in the Libraries case is not going to be delivered until the new law term in October. This is enormously frustrating for me, but still more so for the staff who have agreed voluntary redundancy terms but cannot be given notice while the case is pending. It, of course, also means an overun in the Libraries budget. The litigants have no such concerns, as their bills are paid by the taxpayer through legal aid.
1 comment:
I for one am glad that the judge is taking his time to make a considered and balanced decision. Not only does this decision affect the Brent Libraries landscape for decades to come but may set a precedent for the other cases that are building up by campaigners in other parts of the country. For the judge to rush just to suit one executive and one council's efficiency would be contrary to the meaning of justice.
I'm not sure I'd agree with you on this situation being more frustrating for the staff than you. Just because someone takes voluntary redundancy doesn't mean that they want to give up their job. It just means that for them after weighing up their personal situation and the fact that if voluntary redundancies did not succeed compulsory ones might follow. Has any front of office librarian actually approached senior council management or yourself to complain about not being able to leave as early as was previously expected? If so there's a simple solution, at times the libraries are overstaffed anyway. You could go about addressing that in the medium term without breaking the undertaking not to make changes that would fundamentally damage the service until the judgment was delivered.
There's actually a whole load of other constructive things that you and senior council officers can do regarding the libraries project between now and October. If you were to work on the basis that you are going to win the case (which is almost certain if I believe your commentary of the performance of your barrister to ours) then the sensible thing to do is to further develop your plans to address some of the shortcomings/concerns raised such as what to do about computer provision being maxed out etc. etc.
If you're really concerned about the budget how about you commit today to not appealing should Brent lose its case.
Finally it's worth pointing out that Brent's legal bills are also paid by the taxpayer.
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