8,500 Council Jobs Could Be Axed, Warns GMB

1 February 2016, 08:17

More than 8,500 jobs are under threat because of cuts to council spending across Scotland, new research has revealed.

Local authorities in many areas are proposing job losses, ranging from tens to thousands.

The GMB union, which compiled the data, said it was now involved in daily meetings with councils in a bid to scale back the cuts and loss of services.

National officer Justin Bowden said: ''Councils are now making cuts to services they offer the general public like bin collections every three weeks or ending cleaning gulleys, as well as severe cuts to services for the elderly and for children.

''Regular home helps and hot meals on wheels are from a bygone era. So much for David Cameron's claim that front-line services would not be cut.''

Proposed job losses which the GMB said it is dealing with, amount to over 25,000, including:

3,000 Glasgow City Council

2,000 Edinburgh City Council

1,000 North Lanarkshire Council

900 Fife Council

700 Falkirk Council

400 South Lanarkshire Council

306 Argyll and Bute

300 Blackpool Council

150 Stirling

84 Western Isles