Comhairle redundancies will hit local economy 15/2/12
Western Isles Council is being warned that a planned fresh wave of redundancies risks
a serious knock-
The local authority faces £10 million financial black hole over the next three years and will vote on next year‘s budget late this afternoon.
Until now it has been nibbling at services by making small cuts across a large range of services. But councillors privately accept it has eaten into the spare fat and need other solutions to try and stem the crisis.
Unions fear slashing posts and curbing recruitment is being targeted to make bigger savings.
Unison union branch secretary Flora Somerville highlighted the far reaching consequences of more job cuts.
Mrs Somerville said: "Redundancies are our biggest concerns. The number of permanent jobs has fallen over the past couple of years.
“The council has not been making heavy service choices -
She highlighted: "A public sector worker spends about 70 pence out of every £1 they earn in the local Western Isles economy.
"So every lost job means 70% of income not being spent in the islands -
The council and unions are in discussions over a proposal to increase redundancy payments to try and entice more employees to leave voluntarily and sooner which may also reduce the number of compulsory redundancies.
Tighter employment conditions and revised mileage rates are likely to apply to the remaining workforce. Staff numbers have fallen by around 5% since 2010 and is now about 2440 people. Some 55 council staff departed in 2011 and 72 the previous year.
The council will vote to freeze council tax but needs extra cash cover the growing
cost of caring for the elderly population as well as investing in social care and
pre-