A STORM has erupted over claims that town hall chief Max Caller has used political manipulation to influence Labour leader Cllr Jules Pipers bid to become Hackney's first directly elected mayor. He has been accused of failing to remain neutral in his role as returning officer for the election to be held on October 17.

Town hall trade union UNISON and the Socialist Alliance's mayoral candidate Paul Foot have both accused Mr Caller of colluding with the leader of the Labour council, who is also standing as a candidate, to avoid a walk-out by library staff which could potentially damage his campaign.

It centres on a leaked memo from Mr Caller, the council's chief executive, to library chiefs instructing them to postpone until after the mayoral election plans to re-open some libraries which have been shut every Saturday for the past nine months.

The long-running dispute by striking library staff is over the scrapping of extra cash for Saturday working. Unions have accused the council of trying to smash the dispute using "non-union scab labour" after it advertised to replace them with Saturday assistants to work seven hours a week at f8.38 per hour for 50 weeks per year.

Mr Caller's memo said he agreed with Cllr Pipe that "it would be sensible to defer the opening on Saturdays to avoid unnecessary industrial action during the election campaign."

An outraged Mr Foot said the returning officer should not be agreeing policy with Labour's candidate on the basis of how it will effect the mayoral elections.

"Industrial action is apparently necessary in normal times, but unnecessary at election time," Mr Foot said. "If Cllr Pipe wants to prevent unnecessary industrial action, he should pay library workers the nationally agreed rate for working Saturdays and not bring in scab labour to try and bust the union. It shows the degree to which Cllr Pipe and New Labour treat democracy and workers' rights with contempt."

Hackney UNISON's acting branch secretary Brian Debus believes the "collusion" between the chief executive and council leader needs to be investigated for impossible electoral malpractice"

Mr Caller said in a statement that as Hackney's returning officer it is his duty to remain impartial in all electoral matters. "I am satisfied that I have maintained this position throughout the process to date," he said. "The memo referred to was an internal instruction to ensure minimal disruption to everyone's election campaign."

A public meeting about the library dispute organised by Hackney UNISON is being held at 7pm next Wednesday at Hackney Cypriot Association in Balls Pond Road, Dalston.