GWYNEDD Council will apologise to staff members after a letter warning that they would be dismissed if they failed to agree to new contracts with changes the authority admits are “not desirable”.

The council has come under fire, with unions registering a formal dispute and calling for the Joint Council for Wales Joint Secretaries to consider the issue, after it emerged that the letters sent to over 6,000 staff members about changes to travelling expenses, payments for staff working between 8pm and 10pm and cuts to payments for being on duty outside of normal working hours, had insisted that staff must voluntarily sign up to the new contracts or lose their jobs at the end of June.

While the council still wants to alter staff contracts, a council spokesperson has admitted that the letter “may have caused concern or worry” for staff members.

A spokesperson said: “The council is contacting all members of staff as soon as possible to apologise for the tone of the previous letter sent to them regarding local conditions of service, and to offer a further explanation of the changes.

“The council accepts that the original letter may have caused concern or worry and apologises to anyone who feels that the tone and the choice of words used were threatening.

“The first letter certainly was not meant to be threatening but was an attempt to clearly explain the implications of not accepting the new terms offered by the council. It is important to state that the council does not wish to see anyone losing their job as a result of the changes to the local conditions of service.

“If any member of staff would like to discuss this matter further, we would urge them to contact the human resources staff helpline.”

See this week’s north papers for the full story, available in shops and as a digital edition on Thursday