I WOULD like to respond to the article '£5m Council Sick Leave Shock' (BEN, November 22).

Sick leave does not cost Bolton Council £5m per year. The vast majority of sickness absence is covered by the dedication and goodwill of workers in offices, depots etc who pick up the work of sick colleagues.

This is at no extra cost to the employers.

Council employees work extremely hard and conscientiously, whether as home care workers, school support workers, librarians or social workers.

Forty-two percent of employees do not miss a single day due to sickness.

Council workers do not take sick leave because of a culture of absenteeism. They take sick leave as a result of illness, particularly stress. Stress can be the result of under-staffing, bullying and/or the high level of assaults and abuse members face in the course of carrying out their work.

It would be far better for the employees and unions to work together on reducing and removing levels of violence and stress.

Inaccurate information and talk of an absentee culture does no justice to an excellent workforce that provides so many of the essential services that members of the Bolton public depend upon and rightly value.

David Gibbons

Unison Senior Steward

Mawdsley Street

Bolton