Trade unionists demand Glasgow councillors fight the cuts
On Thursday 7th February Glasow City Council is meeting to discuss its budget. The Labour run authority is proposing to make a further £70 million in cuts. Glasgow City Unison branch secretary, Brian Smith, has written an open letter on behalf of the union’s 11,000 members, demanding that Glasgow councillors refuse to make the cuts and calling for defiance of ConDem austerity by elected politicians.
Dear Glasgow City Council Elected Member,
On Thursday (7 Feb) you will once again be faced with the decision on whether to implement more of the ConDems austerity programme. The proposals before you on Thursday represent more cuts in frontline services and the loss of nearly 300 more jobs in the council and perhaps 600 in Cordia. The budget proposals do nothing to alleviate the increasing work pressures that have been piled on your workforce in recent years. You are being asked to vote for more cuts in the services provided to disabled adults on top of the ones already causing so much damage, cut £5.5M from care services to older people including the loss of 300 home carers, reduce posts in our schools, remove vital local management jobs in early years establishments and cut £2.4m from ASL provision.
The proposed increase in charges for many council services will hit ordinary families in our city at a time when most are already struggling due to other aspects of the ConDems attacks.
Council workers have had several years of real terms pay cuts and the budget proposals contain nothing which suggests that Glasgow City Council is really speaking up for its workforce within CoSLA. More real terms pay cuts and attacks on our pensions appear to be both CoSLA and the Scottish Government’s plans over the next two years. This will only increase tensions between the council workforce and the employers.
We believe that 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. There is plenty of money in our economy – it is just in the wrong hands or lying in the bank accounts of big business. We urge you to use all available financial mechanisms to hold-off any further cuts. The trade unions will support any politician or political group who now says “No More”. We still hope for a united campaign of elected members, trade unions and communities to win more money from the Scottish and UK Governments. We hope that many of you have reached your own personal political “line in the sand”.
Yours,
Brian Smith
Branch Secretary
UNISON Glasgow City
84 Bell Street
G1 1LQ
0141 552 7069
