Date: Mon 8 October 2012

No more room to cut: unions call on Glasgow councillors to halt jobs cull

Unions representing the vast majority of Glasgow City Council workers have called on councillors to reject plans for 1,000 more job losses and cuts to vital services.

UNISON, GMB and Unite branches in Glasgow have written to each city councillor urging them to "use all available financial mechanisms to hold-off any further cuts, while building a campaign to win back the money stolen from the city."

UNISON Glasgow branch secretary Brian Smith, on behalf of the three unions, stated:

"There is no more room to cut. Over 2,500 jobs have already been cut by Glasgow City Council since 2010 - that is more than 10% of the workforce. We strongly urge all the political groups to refuse to cut any more council jobs.

"Elected members have a choice - make the cuts or demand an end to the slash and burn austerity policies of the ConDems and fight for a return of the tens of millions stolen from Glasgow in the last few years.

"We urge Glasgow City Council to use all available financial mechanisms to hold-off any further cuts, while building a campaign to win back the money stolen from the city."

Glasgow City Council appeared to confirm the story previously leaked to the media that up to 1,000 further voluntary redundancies were being sought in order to achieve a target cut of £49 million over the next two years when Chief Executive George Black indicated a further ‘targeted’ voluntary severance trawl will be offered to not only those staff members over 50 years of age as previously, but also under 50s.

The unions called for councillors to support the a community and trade union campaign based on the setting of a ‘Needs Budget’ and the demand for the return of the millions of pounds stolen from Glasgow in successive budget settlements.

ends

for further information please call:
Brian Smith, branch secretary of UNISON’s Glasgow City branch, on 0141 552 7069
Mandy McDowall, UNISON’s Regional Organiser for social work, on 07903 846 427
Malcolm Burns, Communications Officer, on 0141 342 2877 or 078765 66978

Notes for editors:

1 Text of letter send to all City of Glasgow councillors on behalf of UNISON, GMB and UNITE unions on Monday 8 October 2012

Dear Elected Member, Glasgow City Council 

I write on behalf of the trade unions UNISON, GMB and UNITE regarding the £50m budget cuts which you are being asked to make over the next two years and specifically on the report being tabled at Thursday's Executive Committee (11 October) which seeks to cut more jobs from the council.

As you know people provide the services; and fewer jobs mean fewer services. Over 2,500 jobs have already been cut by Glasgow City Council since 2010 (more than 10% of workforce) and we strongly urge you and your political group to refuse to cut any more council jobs. Glasgow will need more services in the coming years as the social fallout of the bankers economic crisis gathers pace, not less. The council workforce is already facing unacceptable work pressures due to current service demands. There is no more room to cut.

With youth employment in the city at record levels it is wrong to take more good jobs out of our local economy. The private sector is not creating the levels of employment claimed by the ConDems and where it is many of these new jobs are low paid, part-time or temporary, or all three.

We believe that elected members have a choice - make the cuts or demand an end to the slash and burn austerity policies of the ConDems and fight for a return of the tens of millions stolen from Glasgow in the last few years. We urge Glasgow City Council to use all available financial mechanisms to hold-off any further cuts, while building a campaign to win back the money stolen from the city. The trade unions will support any politician or political group who now says "No More". We still hope for a united campaign of elected members, trade unions and communities to win more money from the Scottish and UK Governments.

We hope that many of you have reached, or are close to, your own personal political “line in the sand”. We urge you to vote against any more job cuts.

Yours on behalf of the trade unions UNISON, GMB and UNITE.

Brian Smith
Branch Secretary
UNISON Glasgow City
Monday 8 October 2012

2 Joint Statement by UNISON, GMB and Unite issued on Monday 8 October 2012

There is no more room to cut

People provide the services; and fewer jobs mean fewer services. Over 2,500 jobs have already been cut by Glasgow City Council since 2010 (more than 10% of workforce) and we strongly urge all the political groups to refuse to cut any more council jobs. Glasgow will need more services in the coming years as the social fallout of the bankers economic crisis gathers pace, not less. The council workforce is already facing unacceptable work pressures due to current service demands. There is no more room to cut.

With youth employment in the city at record levels it is wrong to take more good jobs out of our local economy. The private sector is not creating the levels of employment claimed by the ConDems and where it is many of these new jobs are low paid, part-time or temporary, or all three.

We believe that elected members have a choice - make the cuts or demand an end to the slash and burn austerity policies of the ConDems and fight for a return of the tens of millions stolen from Glasgow in the last few years. We urge Glasgow City Council to use all available financial mechanisms to hold-off any further cuts, while building a campaign to win back the money stolen from the city.

The trade unions will support any politician or political group who now says "No More". We hope that many of them have reached, or are close to, your own personal political “line in the sand”.  We still hope for a united campaign of elected members, trade unions and communities to win more money from the Scottish and UK Governments.

We hope that many of you have reached, or are close to, your own personal political “line in the sand”. We urge you to vote against any more job cuts.

On behalf of the trade unions UNISON, GMB and UNITE.
Brian Smith
Branch Secretary
UNISON Glasgow City
8 October 2012

Index