GMB Calls For Clarity Over North Lanarkshire Council Jobs Cuts

GMB Calls For Clarity Over North Lanarkshire Council Jobs Cuts

GMB Scotland has today (Thursday 12 January) called on North Lanarkshire Council Chief Executive Paul Jukes to give trade unions urgent clarity over budget cuts estimated to affect 120 full time jobs.

NLC say savings of over £36 million for 2017/18 are required against the backdrop of a £327 million cut to the overall council budget by the Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary Derek Mackay.

An advance notification of redundancies was sent to trade union officials before Christmas, but NLC officials have yet to confirm where the cuts will fall and what the impact will be on service provision for local communities.

GMB Scotland Organiser Barry Fletcher said: “Our members in local government are bracing themselves for Derek Mackay’s new wave of cuts and the situation in North Lanarkshire is just the start of what will be a brutal year for councils.

But there is a responsibility on councils to tell the trade unions and the public where exactly they expect to make these latest rounds of redundancies – 120 is a significant cut to services that have already been cut to the bone.

Let’s be clear that local services have been starved of investment for years and this latest round of cuts could have dire consequences for service delivery across any number of departments in North Lanarkshire.

That’s why we need clarity from the Chief Executive’s office on this redundancy plan and why we need it as a matter of urgency.”

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Contact: GMB Scotland Organiser Barry Fletcher on 07921 885775 or Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.