Coronavirus: Councils should retain staff, say MLAs

Senior Sinn Féin and Ulster Unionist politicians have said councils should retain as many members of their workforce as possible.

It is in response to proposed lay offs as a result of lost revenue caused by the Covid-19 crisis.

There are 46 staff at Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council waiting to hear on the future of their jobs.

Along with 20 agency workers, the council had laid off the workers, but is now reviewing the decision.

The decision to lay off the workers was taken two weeks ago.

'Sword of Damocles'

Appearing on BBC Northern Ireland's Inside Politics Q&A podcast, Sinn Féin junior minister Declan Kearney and Ulster Unionist leader Steve Aiken responded to a question from one of the 46 staff.

Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has confirmed councils can apply for their workers to be furloughed under the Treasury's Coronavirus Job Retention scheme.

The staff members were initially laid off before Deirdre Hargey confirmed they were eligible for the furlough scheme

The staff member - who did not want to be identified - contacted the podcast to say he and his colleagues feel as if a "sword of Damocles" is still hanging over their heads.

He asked the politicians appearing on the podcast if they agreed that it would be right to remove the shadow hanging over the staff.

Mr Kearney said his party wants to see the workforce in Antrim and Newtownabbey retained now the council has access to the chancellor's furlough scheme.

"We shouldn't allow the impacts of Covid-19 and how we deal with that socially and economically to in any way become a proxy for some other form of austerity measure," said Mr Kearney.

'A financial hit'

Mr Aiken said all Northern Ireland's councils are facing "a substantial financial hit".

He said the next step should be to look at how council funding could be sustained over the next couple of months and whether the furlough scheme could be extended.

He added that his party would be "supportive to retain as many jobs as possible, not just at Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, but across all local government in Northern Ireland".

Emergency financial plan

Alliance Party MLA for South Antrim, John Blair, told Inside Politics Q&A he was "surprised the decision was taken before it became clear whether or not there would be financial assistance available".

Alliance councillors voted along with the DUP, Ulster Unionists and Sinn Féin for an emergency financial plan at a council meeting at the end of last month.

But Mr Blair said his colleagues had not expected any decision would be taken on lay offs until further information they had requested had been provided.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is to give an update on the job retention scheme on Tuesday

Mr Blair said Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council would be meeting later this week to review the matter and he hoped by then there would be more clarification on what financial assistance is available.

The DUP South Antrim MLA Pam Cameron said all Northern Ireland's councils have very difficult decisions to make, in terms of making their budgets work despite the downturn in income.

Mrs Cameron says she is happy to speak to Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council officers "to ensure we are doing all we can to keep as many people employed for as long as possible in these very difficult circumstances".

The politicians also discussed easing the lockdown, whether Northern Ireland should consider exploring "social bubbles" in order to improve people's mental health and how the outbreaks of Covid-19 within care homes is impacting on the R number which measures the transmission of the virus across Northern Ireland.

Inside Politics South Antrim Q&A is available on BBC Sounds in audio and you can watch it here.