Responding to concerns raised by employees at Gwynedd Council on receipt of a “threatening” letter, suggesting that they would lose their job if they did not sign new contacts, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, Janet Finch-Saunders AM said:

“This debacle will have unsettled and upset staff at the local authority, and it is right that Gwynedd Council has apologised at last.

“Quite how the letter ever got signed off is another matter altogether though.

“The Welsh Labour Government has made swathing cuts to council budgets in recent years, and that financial pressure is a concern in town halls the length and breadth of Wales – but for council leaders to ask hard-pressed staff to bear the brunt is simply unacceptable.

“It was right to apologise to council workers, and I hope that Gwynedd Council will now direct its anger towards ministers in Cardiff Bay.”