TOWN hall bosses in Burnley have written to all 800 council staff apologising for "outrageous" remarks made by a councillor about female workers who took time off work through stress.

In an unprecedented move, council Labour leader Stuart Caddy and chief executive Roger Ellis said comments made at council by Independent Group leader Harry Brooks were abusive and insulting and had deeply hurt and offended many employees who had suffered genuine forms of sickness or stress.

Their joint letter stated: "We are writing to apologise to all council employees for any distress which may have been caused by this.

"You should understand that Coun Brooks is an Independent member of the council and his remarks in no way represent the official view of the council." Today Coun Caddy said he had received many letters of protest from furious staff and unions and revealed that Coun Brooks would be called on to make a public apology at the next council meeting.

But the Independent leader hit back, describing the criticism as "garbage" and demanding the same right as Coun Caddy to write to all council staff.

Coun Brooks sparked fury among councillors and workers when he drew attention to a report which showed that by far the majority of staff who took time off work through stress-related illness were women.

He described the condition as "taking sickies" and told the council meeting it was the easiest thing in the world to get a doctor's certificate for stress. The Council's Women's Network of staff condemned his remarks as "unfounded, insulting and derogatory" - a view mirrored by major staff union Unison, which issued a statement condemning and totally refuting the allegations against employees.

The letter from Coun Caddy and Mr Ellis said a number of employees had contacted them to express grave concern over the Independent boss' comments.

"At the council meeting in question no-one supported Coun Brooks' remarks and he was criticised from all sides of the council chamber," it said.

The letter added: "Although, of course, the council is concerned to ensure levels of sickness are reduced, it is determined to do this in a sensitive way following the proper procedures.

"There is no place in this for the sort of abusive and insulting remarks made by Coun Brooks."

Today Coun Caddy said he would be contacting the council's Conservative and Liberal Democrat leaders to seek their views on the matter.

"I received letters from very angry staff, unions and the equal opportunities officer demanding action," he added.

Coun Brooks said he had simply been quoting from figures issued by the council itself and he was now being accused of making remarks he had never made.

"I will be writing to all members of staff on this issue," he said.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.