2,450 council jobs face axe next year, warns union
Trade union GMB has warned that the Birmingham is witnessing “the wholesale dismantling of public services as we know them”. The warning comes as the city council prepares to shed 2,450 posts in 2011/12.
The union insisted it was “not scaremongering” as it received notices from the city council warning of potential job losses.
GMB said that it expects that when all the cuts to the direct workforce are concluded, up to 5,000 posts will be axed over the next three years.
The union said that it was also aware of 1,000 posts threatened at Coventry City Council.
Roger Jenkins, GMB officer for Birmingham City Council, said: “This new HR1 notice covers 2,450 full time equivalent posts to be cut in Birmingham City Council in 2011/12. It comes on top of the 22 HR1 notices already served on the union for cuts this year.
"From what I have seen of the finances, the cuts in posts in Birmingham will total at least 5,000 over the next three years. That does not cover job losses involved in the outsourcing of the leisure services and cuts to jobs already outsourced.”
He said that the city council “needs to be frank with the citizens of Birmingham and make clear what services are going to go entirely.”
