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Council leader’s praise for redundant staff
GRATEFUL ... Coun Iain Malcolm thanked workers who have lost their jobs.
THE leader of South Tyneside Council has praised staff who ‘paid the price’ of losing their jobs with the authority over recent years.
The tribute came as senior councillors rubber-stamped a new £20m budget savings package yesterday.
It follows cutbacks amounting to £35m over the last 12 months, which saw hundreds of posts shed through voluntary redundancies and early retirement.
At a meeting of the council’s decision-making cabinet, a further package of measures were endorsed, which will inevitably lead to more staff leaving.
Members also agreed a freeze on Council Tax levels, and an average £5.50 a week rise in council house rents.
Labour council leader Coun Iain Malcolm said every effort has been made to make savings without hitting frontline services.
He said potential efficiencies have been examined “line by line”, with no department exempt from scrutiny,
Coun Malcolm added: “We shouldn’t forget the staff we have already had to let go, not just at senior level but across the whole authority.
“We need to place on record our thanks for their service to the council and the public of South Tyneside.”
Meanwhile, Merv Butler, branch secretary of Unison South Tyneside, laid the blame for the council’s plight firmly with the coalition government.
South Tyneside is facing a reduction of up to 11 per cent in core government funding over the next year.
Mr Butler said: “Unison condemns the coalition government’s failure to adequately support the council’s funding needs for next year.
“This settlement is the second worst in the region, and comes at a time when demand for council services is rising, especially in adult social care and looked-after children.
“Unison is joining the South Tyneside Public Services Alliance in holding a rally to highlight these concerns on March 1, when the council agrees its budget.”
Unison is already in consultation over a series of job cuts.
Mr Butler added: “We are supporting our members, and hope that voluntary redundancy can provide a solution.
“We remain opposed to any compulsory redundancies.”
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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Comments
There are 6 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
wasthatthatguy
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 11:46 PMIt seems odd that the Socialist Council and the Unions couldn't get their act together and reduce hours worked or wages paid, so that no one was made redundant. A workers' solidarity type of thing.
hayley4315
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 01:10 PMPending Moderation
Scunnered
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 10:08 AMI like the way the councillors try to give the impression that THEY froze the council tax when it was a diktat from Westminster and had they not done so they would probably have attracted the attention of the local government minister.
absent geordie
Friday, February 17, 2012 at 04:51 AMWelcome to the real world butler. If malcom were to give up some of his obscene expenses and allowances then perhaps a few jobs could have been saved
BoldonLad
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 01:53 PMMr Butler clearly has not read the bit which says the savings were made without any loss of services. Hence, we can only conclude, the council have been carrying excess staff. So, what he is really asking for, is that we pay more to carry surplus staff. No thank you, I quite like having my council tax frozen, or even reduced (not that I will be holding my breath waiting for that to happen).
wasthatthatguy
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 01:34 PMI don't think it is the fault of the coalition government as such. If Labour were in power they would probably have to do something similar, due to the weak economy, lowish tax revenues, highish benefit claims, highish government debt. The only "solution" I can think of is the workers agree to accept lower wages, thereby avoiding the need to make anyone redundant. Will they do that? Probably not. C'est la vie.
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