Letter: Shropshire Council pay decision 'puts some staff in poverty'

Letter: An increasing number of people in Shropshire feel that Shropshire Council Conservative councillors have been following Thatcherite principles in reducing expenditure.

I would disagree, by some centuries.

On the evidence of their latest decision, to reduce more of their lower paid employees to below the poverty line, I think it is more appropriate to compare their attitude to the period that led up to King John being forced to sign the Magna Carta in 1215.

In the late 12th century, peasants' drudgery provided the means for nobles to maintain the lives to which they had become accustomed.

Shropshire Council's decision to undermine the earnings of its lowest paid employees was supported by all Conservative and Labour councillors. By cutting salaries below £13,200 by 2.5 per cent and those above £14,700 by 5.4 per cent, they have pushed all council employees currently earning less than £16,500 below the poverty line of £15,600.

On the other hand, council officers earning £100,000 will be reduced to a mere £94,600, with chief executive Kim Ryley being left with only £170,300 of his existing £180,000 salary, or 1,455 per cent of the £11,700 minimum wage.

If our elected barons think this is the way to gain unstinting loyalty among, and encourage greater effort from, their lowly serfs to ensure the affordable and effective wellbeing of taxpaying commoners, methinks it is time they were unelected.

Malcolm Macintyre-Read

Much Wenlock