Union in council payoff hopes

Lisa Hodge • Published 26 Nov 2010 14:00

UNION leaders say they hope local authority chiefs can avoid compulsory redundancies after Inverclyde Council announced plans to cut its budget by £6 million.

But bosses at public service union Unison have said the planned cutbacks, exclusively revealed by the Tele yesterday, were 'not the worst-case scenario'.

We told how councillors will be sifting through nearly £11m worth of proposed savings across all local authority directorates, before deciding where the axe will fall to fill the funding gap.

Inverclyde's service condition officer at Unison, Robin Taggart, admitted the situation was problematic, but said deals had been hammered out in a bid to keep reductions to a minimum.

He added: "When we first met with the council, they were looking at £15m worth of cuts, but after talks we have chipped away at that and they have taken some things off the table.

"We've worked with the council over the past few months and managed to persuade the management not to put cuts up so much that it would unavoidably result in compulsory redundancies.

"So, while their proposals might be difficult to manage, we feel it is a better scenario than we could have had."

Council chiefs have admitted they cannot rule out compulsory redundancies, but have vowed to look at other measures first, including the use of voluntary severance, redeployment, robust management of vacancies, and other mechanisms.

Mr Taggart added: "We are confident the cuts can be managed through voluntary redundancies, but we have a lot of work to do to ensure those members who are left with their jobs after the cuts are not forced to make up the shortfall.

"We understand there's no guarantee there won't be compulsory redundancies, but at this stage we are hoping they can be avoided.

"It's going to cause a lot of problems for members, but still, the position we are in today is still a happier one than what we were facing a few months ago."

Council leader Stephen McCabe said that although the cuts are necessary, he wants to minimise the impact on staff and services. He added: "My priority as council leader will be to limit the impact on frontline services, and in particular, services to the most vulnerable in our community.

"I will also be looking to ensure we continue with our investment programmes in our schools and leisure facilities.

"But there is no getting away from the fact we will have to cut funding in a number of areas. We will look to manage the impact on staff and service users as sensitively as we can."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 26 Nov 10

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