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IN JUNE this year Ruth Ruderham was appointed British Waterways Head of Fundraising at a basic salary of £70,000, and has now come up with a scheme to raise funds for Canal & River Trust (CART).
She is encouraging British Waterways staff to undertake a 300 miles sponsored bike ride next June from London to Brussels via Amsterdam, crossing three countries in five days.
However, the staff are expected to take three days leave and include the two days normally taken off, and pay £145 in the bargain, as well as making a commitment to raise at least £1, 300 in sponsorship!
Somewhat sceptical
Our Allan Richards is somewhat sceptical about this scheme, and writes:
Ruth Ruderham, has come up with this scheme which will allow British Waterways staff to pay for this year's directors bonuses thus relieving the taxpayer and boater of the financial burden.
British Waterways staff, particularly those belonging to UNISON and UNITE will be well aware that British Waterways fat cats paid themselves performance bonuses of £15,000 or £12,500 for last year, whilst those lower down the corporate ladder suffered wage freezes, redundancies and cuts in pension benefits.
The bonuses were paid on the basis that increased commercial performance meant that British Waterways was able to spend as much on maintenance in 2010/11 as it had in previous years.
Not true
Unfortunately, British Waterways has misled both its own staff and the public. It's annual reports and accounts show that it spent at least 9% less than in previous years. Despite calls for the money to be returned this has not happened. Indeed, it has been found that British Waterways executives intend to award themselves bonuses this year which will be payable after it becomes Canal & River Trust.
Raising the cash
If 80 British Waterways employees will take part and each raises the minimum of £1,300 it will allow it to pay its directors bonus at the same level as this year without recourse to taxpayer or boater.
But why stop at 80? If over 300 employees can be found who are willing to take three days leave, give up a weekend, find a bike (if they don't own one), find £145 to pay for costs and, finally, find family and friends willing to sponsor them for £1,300, then there is no reason why our executive directors can not pay themselves full bonuses of 30% (or 40%) of basic salary at absolutely no cost to the taxpayer or public.
Not taken in
Of course, it should be made clear that British Waterways is telling its staff that they will by cycling for the new charity, Canal and River Trust rather than directors bonuses. However, one suspects that staff will not be taken in, and will view the management's invitation as the height of hypocrisy.
Does British Waterways actually realise how many hours staff on minimum wage have to work for £145 entry fee! |
