Booze off the agenda

The authority's 23,000 workers are due to be told that drinking during working hours is unacceptable - except for special events like Christmas and colleagues leaving.

Bradford Council would be the first West Yorkshire authority to take the tough new stance with a blanket rule for all its staff.

It would not affect councillors, however, who would be allowed to drink before meetings.

Now concerned union officials want talks with the authority on the controversial proposals which have not yet been released officially to workers.

Today angry employees described the moves as "authoritarian and disgraceful" when the Telegraph & Argus told them of the proposals.

They said they could be trusted to do their work properly - even if they did have a glass of wine or shandy in their break

One worker said: "Obviously we would expect managers to discipline people who came in and couldn't do their jobs properly or made trouble. But it's certainly not a question of officers rolling back to work the worse for wear after lunchtime bevvies."

Another officer said: "It's ridiculous and how on earth would they enforce it? Would they stand at the door with breathalyser kits and smell people's breath?

"Managers will be suspicious if staff even go into the pub for just an orange juice. People would have to defend themselves even if they had done nothing wrong.

"Councillors could still have drinks and go into meetings, taking far more important decisions. It's totally double standards."

Ray Alderman, GMB convenor with the Council, said he was "very concerned" and seeking talks with the Council. He said the proposal related to all the staff, with no exclusions.

A spokesman for the Council Unison branch said it was part of a proposed code of conduct for staff which would go through their negotiating procedures.

"The branch has not yet reached a collective position. This is obviously going to be an extremely sensitive area."

But David Haigh, chairman of Bradford Inner City Licensing Association hit out angrily at the move.

He said: "They are like the Victorians and still in the days of Sir Titus Salt."

He said staff were capable of looking after themselves and being sensible. "The Council should realise there are drinks machines in German factories."

Leader of the Council's Tory group Councillor Margaret Eaton said: "I know of no staff problems caused by this. It is dictatorial and I think it is a way of stopping staff from socialising in case they let out things the Labour group doesn't want them to."

The Council currently has no rules about drinking during work time, although people could be sacked if drunkenness affected their work.

Kirklees, Wakefield, Leeds and Calderdale councils said they did not stop staff drinking during working hours - but disciplinary measures were taken if their work was hit.

But they said there were processes to help workers with real alcohol problem

A spokesman for the Yorkshire Building Society said it did not have a bar and there was no alcohol at business meetings in the building. He said staff were not prevented from having a drink at lunch times. "They are expected to behave sensibly."

Mail order giants Grattan said they only had a policy of banning alcohol on the premises and did not ban drinking by their 5,000 staff during working hours.

Bradford South Labour MP Gerry Sutcliffe, a former Bradford Council leader, said there was concern generally about the high level of alcohol abuse in workforces and it was sensible to discuss the issue.

The Council's assistant director of personnel and strategic issues Keith Handley said the measure was not being considered because there were any problems.

"It is a draft of a general code of conduct for consultation."

He said all local authorities were looking at revisions of codes of conduct in line with Government proposals, including setting up whistle blowing procedures.

Ends

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