Aberdeen City Council Axe Men Come after Frontline Services

Aberdeen Socialist Party Scotland

Aberdeen City Council SNP/Lib Dem bean counters are looking to axe services, cut the hours of workers and raise rates in a bid to make workers in the city yet again pay the price for capitalism’s failures.

The Council have launched a consultation in readiness for the 2025/2026 budget, in which they intend to ‘save’ £54 Million over the next three years.

If the council get their way, new schools will be shelved, the school week could be reduced by 2.5 hours and funding cut from services across the city, including sport Aberdeen and Visit Aberdeenshire.

In August , workers in the council were notified by email that the council intends to cut the standard working week to 35 hours, meaning thousands of workers could lose thousands of pounds a year as a result. Socialist Party Scotland fully supports the cities trade unions in their campaign against this attack.

Charges, such as for parking, cremations and burials may also be raised and the frequency of bin collections reduced.

None of these cuts are necessary. Britain is the sixth largest economy in the world. The Richest 350 People in the UK have a combined wealth of £795 billion, larger than the GDP of Poland.

This is to say nothing of the even larger sums hoarded by big businesses. Aberdeen, and other cities are the victims of capitalist greed and workers, of an economic crisis not of their making.

However, as we have seen in the recent strike waves, it doesn’t have to be this way. A concerted effort by Trade Unions and communities can not only prevent cuts this year but reverse the austerity attacks once and for all. Socialists must build a mass campaign against the failures of capitalism and build a workers economy based on production to meet the needs of all, with properly funded public services and well paid, secure employment.