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, said: “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.”
And Mr Smith urged the 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 a 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 £49m 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.