Public sector axe falls on 7,000 East Midlands jobs
More than 7,000 public sector jobs will be lost in the East Midlands, according to a report by general trade union GMB. Les Dobbs, spokesman for GMB East Midlands told Insider that the authorities were “jumping into cuts too quickly, and heading for a downward spiral.”
Seven public sector organisations have slashed 7,093 jobs in the region. Amongst these are Nottinghamshire County Council, which is preparing to cut 3,000 jobs, and Leicester City and Lincolnshire County Council, which will shed 2,200 and 1,000 posts respectively.
Dobbs said: “Local authorities are jumping before they get to the autumn spending review. More cuts made in the public sector means more private sector job losses, as a lot of work is outsourced.”
150,000 public sector posts will go across the UK as a result of the government's spending cuts.
Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary said: “Current job losses already announced in the public sector of nearly 150,000 are just the top of the iceberg heading for our services and our economy when the Comprehensive Spending Review finally hits home next month. Unemployment and cuts in public services follow the appointment of a Tory led government like night follows day.
“It was the excesses of the bankers not high public spending that caused the recession. The deficit in public finances is mainly due to the loss of 6 per cent of national output because of the recession. The ideology of the Tory Party if for a smaller State and they are hell bent on using the recession to impose these needless and ideologically driven cuts in public spending.”
Dobbs said that the public sector axe is likely to fall on more posts before the year is out.
“This time last year, who would have thought a company like [social housing provider] Connaught Partnerships would have fallen into administration? Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg; I don’t think anything is safe. I think that it will take serious, detrimental cuts to services like the NHS and child protection to stop the job cuts.”
