Bosses at Glasgow City Council have tried to cheer up under pressure staff by dressing up as characters from Star Wars.
The cash-strapped local authority, which could have to cut jobs as part of budget savings, sent a photograph to workers as part of a ‘guess who’ competition.
One boss, who was branded “head of cuts” by a union leader, dressed as legendary Jedi Master Yoda.
David Heneghan, whose role is to overhaul how the council is shaped in the face of ongoing financial pressures, recently announced he is to resign and volunteer with a charity.
In a memo to colleagues he said: “2015 has been an eventful year for me and some of those events have resulted in lots of reflection.
“So having spent almost seven great years with Glasgow I have decided that the time has come for me to seek out a new challenge that better suits my desire to spend more time with my family and take on some voluntary charity work.”
Colleague Kimberley Hose, who is Head of Change and Development at the council, posed as Wookiee warrior, Chewbacca, while senior manager in the education department Moira Abernethy dressed head to toe in white to portray the glamourous Princess Leia.
Head of Customer and Client Services Norman Robinson wore black and posed as Darth Vadar, the fictional villain of the Star Wars franchise who falls to the dark side of the Force and serves the evil Galactic Empire.
A trade union source said: “If they think this helps staff morale they’re on another planet.”
It was Mr Robinson who signed off on the ‘guess who’ competition.
An email sent to ‘all staff’ this afternoon stated: “Guess who. Thank you to all who entered. In just under an hour, and after a burst of emails, we can announce that a member of staff in the Change and Development team, was first to guess all of the names correctly.
“You might be surprised, managers in the photo are: back row Nigel Rooke (Han Solo), Kimberley Hose (Chewbacca), Norman Robinson (Darth Vader), Moira Abernethy (Princess Leia); front row David Heneghan (Yoda), Lee Greenock (Ewok).”
Meanwhile, the council has been shortlisted for a national award for “making best use of our resources, people and technology to deliver more efficient support services”.
Glasgow City Council bosses will find out if they have won the ‘Business Transformation’ gong at the Local Government Chronicle 2016 awards on March 16 next year at a black tie dinner in London.
A source at a trade union which represents staff said: “Glasgow City Council seem to take pride in being nominated and winning awards for how well they can make cuts in jobs and services.
“Their use of the word ‘transformation’ is senior management speak for managing the austerity plans of the Tories.
“The trade unions would prefer it if they tried to win awards for fighting the cuts and protecting vital services in the city.”
A council spokesman said: “The reduction the Scottish Government has made to our budget since 2008 has been so substantial that fundamentally transforming how we work has been the only alternative to gutting the frontline services the city relies on.
“Those service reforms have only been possible through the innovation and dedication of our hard-working staff. This particular competition was organised by managers in one team and was intended as a bit of Christmas fun. It did not incur any costs to the council.”
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