Angry

This will be a rant...you have been warned.

I mentioned a few weeks ago about my Centre having a few problems with the Council, who basically pay my wages but we don't have much to do with them. First they wanted to stop the trips because of insurance, then it was staff using council time, then it was a cash handling issue. Now, we are looking at being in a position where we can't handle cash at all, for trips, classes, tea bar - nothing at all, which is 80% of our job. They are obviously trying to make staff cuts, but aren't being honest about it. Why can't they just tell us? This has been rumbling on since April with no resolution, and now the press are involved. I, as a staff member, can't really fight this, it's the Committee's job, and bearing in mind that the Committee members are all 60-70+, they aren't up to much.
I've come in to work today to a letter sent to our Committee Chairman, basically detailing our cash handling, then at the bottom in small print it says:

The committees would like to recruit one service provider able to deliver a cash handling service to all three centres. However, bids to one or two of the centres will also be considered.
We would be pleased to receive details of your proposed methodology and charges by close of business on Friday 14th November 2008.

This letter has also been sent to a range of voluntary groups and the Community Volunteer Service, Basildon District Volunteer Carers, and Age Concern, so that they too can put in a bid to run our centre.

The Committee and my boss have had this letter for a week, and completely ignored this bit at the bottom, which is basically the whole point of the letter. The Council think that as old people they are too stupid to put in a bid, and at the moment they are right, it is a huge undertaking! I spent an hour convincing the Chairman to at least try and put in a bid, then my boss comes in and gets in a strop. He hates anyone having any ideas that aren't his, and he has been so rude to us girls today because we've been trying to explain it to both him and the Chairman. My boss is adamant that the Council won't go ahead with it...hello...it's there in black and white; on the 14th November tender for the cash handling closes, and if you aren't in it, you can't win it. He has his head buried in the sand. It makes me so mad! I offered to help the Chairman write a bid, and gave him a few ideas, but now I just feel like throwing in the towel, after the way my boss spoke to me. He can't bear to not be in control, which would be fine if he wasn't so bloody useless! I do all his work and he takes all the credit, I do his personal reviews, his risk assessments, his minutes for his managers meetings...he's happy for me to put the effort so he can be lazy, just as long as he doesn't look like a fool and can take the praise. Grrrrrr....