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Date: Monday, 4 October 2010
RELEASE FROM SOUTH LANARKSHIRE JOINT TRADE UNION COUNCIL
Unions call on South Lanarkshire to stick to pledge to avoid
compulsory redundancies
South Lanarkshire Joint Trade Union Council has reacted to South
Lanarkshire Council's cuts proposals by insisting that the Council
stick to the commitment given to staff to avoid compulsory redundancies
and to minimise cuts to services.
Andy Murphy, Chair of JTUC said "This is what David Cameron,
George Osbourne and Nick Clegg see as the future of the people
of South Lanarkshire. Big cuts in education, big reductions in
services to older people, big numbers of people losing their jobs.
I guess this is what they meant by a big society. We don't think
this is necessary. There are alternatives but the ConDem government
are ideologically attacking the public sector. This will have
a knock on effect on the local economy and jobs will be lost in
the private sector as well as within the Council"
The Council have indicated that they need at least £80m of cuts
over the next 3 years and the Executive Director of Finance has
produced proposals totalling £118m to allow Councillors to prioritise
which cuts they prefer.
Stephen Smellie, UNISON Branch Secretary said, "The options presented
are horrendous and even if they avoid the worst there is no doubt
that young kids, disabled people and older people will suffer
drastic cuts in services. Amongst the workforce somewhere between
1500 and 2000 jobs are likely to be lost with low paid workers
like classroom assistants, day care workers, cleaners, catering
and lollipop men and women all under particular threat. We will
be meeting Council bosses over the next few weeks and we will
be calling on them to guarantee that there will be no compulsory
redundancies amongst staff."
However Andy Murphy also said "We will be calling on all the
Councillors to join us in a campaign to change the Government
policy which forces Councils to make these cuts. They can do that
by joining us in Edinburgh on 23 October on the STUC's demonstration.
They can even get a lift on our bus and we can discuss the issues
on the way."
ENDS
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