Damian Doran-Timson said that the time spent by union reps doing union duties while at work had cost the council more than £200,000 in the last year
An attempt by the Conservative group leader on West Lothian council to put a cap on union related work by staff has been rejected as unlawful.
He added: "I trust that the union representatives will not make mockery of the council, their employer, by being paid for a job that they don't spend one minute doing. The Provost, Cathy Muldoon is a member of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association - a railway related union. "An employer, and the council is obviously an employer, has a duty to consider those requests and to allow time off which it considers to be reasonable. It has to be assessed. To impose a cap on the amount of time that the employer might consider to be reasonable, represents something that's not lawful for the council to do. It has to consider each case on its own merits.
"Union reps play a crucial role in speaking for workers, protecting their rights and maintaining co-operative and effective industrial relations with the council.
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