North Tyneside council workers to pay for parking

Thousands of North Tyneside Council workers could be forced to pay to park at work.

GMB Union is urging the local authority to scrap the plans - which could see staff stumping up to park at council offices and leisure centres across the borough.

Meanwhile councillors are set to trouser a £6,000 pay rise if the increase is nodded through at a vote of the full council meeting tomorrow [Thursday].

Stuart Gilhespy, GMB Organiser, said:

"Forcing thousands of council workers - many of them low paid - to park at work is wrongheaded and ill thought out.

"Doing it while councillors trouser a six grand pay rise is completely grotesque and will make people wonder whose side the council is on.

"Everyone knows the council is hard up - but slashing workers' wages while the top brass get more money is not the answer.

"If North Tyneside Council is serious about supporting staff through the cost-of-living crisis, it must drop this proposal and focus on retaining and attracting talent, not driving it away."