Aberdeen Council to cut further 600 jobs in cash crisis

ABERDEEN City Council is planning to axe a further 600 jobs as part of its third wave of savage spending cuts, it was revealed yesterday.

Officials at the local authority have started a 90-day consultation with trade unions over plans to cut hundreds more posts from its workforce to help make a further £17million of savings – on top of the £60million already being implemented.

It is understood the move would take the total number of job losses at the council close to the 1,300 mark since the financial crisis began two years ago – more than 10% of its formerly 11,500-strong workforce.

Compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out either this time around, with a council spokesman saying they could be used as a “last resort”.

North-east trade union leaders and Labour politicians branded the move “appalling” last night.

Tommy Campbell, regional organiser for the Unite union, said: “I am absolutely astounded – this is a disaster for services in this city.

“If job losses are inevitable then I’m expecting the council to work its way from the top down, frontline services must be protected.”
Severance

He added that if central government could bail out the banks then it should do the same for Aberdeen City Council.

About 1,300 workers at the authority applied for voluntary severance and early retirement last year, with between 600-700 thought to have been allowed to leave.

Those whose applications for severance were rejected last year will now be contacted and new applications will be sought as well.

Opposition Labour councillors vowed last night to fight “tooth and nail” against any compulsory redundancies.

Council chief executive, Sue Bruce, said: “We must all face the fact that the very difficult economic climate and the extremely tight financial settlement that we are expecting from the Scottish Government together mean that very difficult choices will have to be made to produce a balanced budget next year.

“We are by no means alone in this. All local authorities, and indeed the whole public sector, is having to find imaginative ways of facing up to the same situation. Local government needs to consider new ways of delivering service excellence by, for example, being more efficient and using a smaller workforce.

“We now have to get to grips with reducing staffing numbers to help us make the necessary savings while at the same time providing quality frontline services that meet the needs of the people of Aberdeen.”

Staff in every council department could be at risk as Mrs Bruce has asked each department to prepare potential 5% savings, in expectation that the council will remain Scotland’s lowest funded per person.

Details of further savings plans are expected to be announced next month before councillors make a final decision in December.
Fighting

Labour group spokesman, Willie Young, said: “We will be fighting tooth and nail to make sure there are no compulsory redundancies.

“We are worried about the impact this will have on frontline services because it’s the people who use services who will suffer.”

North-east Labour MSP Richard Baker added: “The loss of 600 jobs from Aberdeen will simply be devastating.

“These cuts are a cut too far and I cannot see how Aberdeen will be able cope.”

Councillor John Stewart, leader of the authority’s ruling Liberal Democrat/SNP administration, painted a bleak picture of the future.

“As leader of the council I am going to have to go out and have a serious discussion with the people of Aberdeen about what our core services are going to be in the future.

“It won’t be a pleasant discussion but it will have to be done.

“I think looking ahead to the big squeeze in local government finance over the next four to five years, every local authority in the UK will have to begin an honest discussion with citizens about core services.

“Generally we would hope to manage the reduction in staff without compulsory redundancies but you can never guarantee.”