Non-job of the week

Today the Department of Communities and Local Government will announce Council Tax increases set to land on doormats all over the UK.  It’s doubled in ten years and will soar beyond the official inflation figure of 2.5% this year.  People are being sent to prison for being unable or refusing to pay.  It’s clearly unsustainable.  What makes this system of financing unsustainable is that your money is going to useless non-jobs burning our money.

How apt it is this week that we find this job from the Guardian jobs page:

“Sustainability Manager

£40,964 - £42,686 pa - Full-time, 37 hours per week- flexi-scheme

We are seeking a knowledgeable, experienced and enthusiastic sustainability manager to maintain the profile of work in this area. Joining an authority with a history of innovative approaches to sustainability and successful cross-service working, this post offers an excellent opportunity for you to lead our dedicated sustainability team to deliver significant carbon reductions and other environmental improvements across the organisation and beyond, responding to high profile issues such as climate change and linking to corporate priorities as stated in our Local Area Agreement.

Using your practical knowledge of sustainability and proven ability to manage people, projects and budgets, you will be expected to champion the strategic "green city" vision for the council in its local and regional contexts, as well as embedding a corporate approach to sustainability across the council.

You will need to be articulate and persuasive, involving councillors and colleagues to develop and deliver the policies and outcomes we need.

You and your team will work with services in all council directorates, helping them reduce their environmental impact, especially through energy and water management.

You and your team will also have important inputs to key services such as planning and building control, transport and highways and environmental services to ensure that sustainability approaches are reflected in policy development and application across the borough.

For more information about this post, please telephone Zoe Hanim on 0118 939 0173.

To apply... application forms can be downloaded or completed on-line at http://www.reading.gov.uk

Alternatively email: recruitment@reading.gov.uk or call 0118 939 0039 (24 hour answerphone) quoting ref: CEX0166 and stating which position you are interested in.

Please do not send a CV. For the purposes of equal opportunities, we can only accept Reading Borough Council application forms.

This post is politically restricted under Part 1 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989.

Closing date: Wednesday 9 April 2008

Interview date: Friday 25 April 2008

What's on offer?

generous relocation allowance

flexible working

24 days holiday rising to 32 days

final salary pension scheme

excellent training & career opportunities

Equal opportunities for all Positive about disability

Reading BOROUGH COUNCIL

POSITIVE ABOUT DISABLED PEOPLE”

Remarkable.  These jobs never cease to amaze.  Another green job, with astonishing benefits and a ‘relocation allowance’ – surely they don’t expect the successful applicant to relocate by car?  Add in the 5-weeks off they get as holiday (a caravan at the bottom of the garden as opposed to a long haul flight to Bermuda, they can't be hypocrites now, can they) and the gold plated pension and you can see that funding non-jobs like Reading's Sustainability Manager isn't sustainable.

But there is a way out.  How about government cut its emissions by sacking these non-jobbers, saving on running costs their offices, computers, lights etc all use up and handing you back some of the cash you’ve lost in Council Tax over the past ten years…it’s just a thought.

Comments

[Letters From A Tory]

That's a hell of a lot more than I get paid for doing something vaguely useful.

[Tori]

All these 'green' jobs make me sick, especially when the taxpayer is paying for a 'strategic green city vision', having had no choice in this so-called vision. And the salary is ludicrous.

[Terry Finch]

Hey Tim,

Looks like quite an important and rewarding job to me, which could quite possibly bring some real benefits to the citizens of Reading and make a positive contribution towards building a sustainable future. What do you do?

Terry Finch

[Tim]

£42k for a 7 hour working day is certainly a rewarding job to the person filling it. It's in no way rewarding to the Reading pensioner who has to pay higher council tax to subsidise the Sustainability Manager's 5 weeks holiday, final salary pension scheme and 'generous' relocation allowance.

[Terry Finch]

'The Reading pensioner'! Is this the new 'Outraged of Tunbridge Wells'?

Have you got some kind of automated machine of bile on your computer, Timmy? You know just chuck in a load of ranting, angry words and something suitably self-righteous and right-wing is churned out for the Daily Mail?

Next you'll be telling us climate change is one big conspiracy cooked up by 'lefty liberals'...

[Tori]

Terry Finch - do you have a personal vendetta against Tim (who does a lot of hard work for the TPA) or do you have a general dislike for the work and the message of the TPA as a whole? I would be interested to hear your views.

[Peregrine Urquhart]

Goodness, you are giving Tories a bad name. Living up to the tax-dodging image, shame on you all. It really is that simple for you isn't it! Never seen such short-sighted drivel in all my life. You're all completely removed the reality of real life, espousing the same confused economic policies (Economics 101? Focus on ETR under the Tories and ignore the fact that unemployment was more than triple what it currently is) and trying to claim it is all for the benefit of old grannies.

I presume you will be listing what you pay all your staff and opening it up to the scrutiny of the donors who pay their wages? Hypocrites, giving Conservatism a bad name.