City of savage cuts

The coalition government’s austerity programme has hit the city of Birmingham in the most detrimental way. Axing 6,000 jobs from council workers, devastating their families and the economy in the entire region.

Savage cuts at Birmingham city council will see 6,000 jobs go in the next four years. The authority has already lost the equivalent number of people axed when Rover collapsed – and is now set to double that number. This is a terrible blow for the hardworking workforce but also the million people who rely on its services.

“For every pound spent on council staff wages 52 pence is spent locally,” said Unite regional secretary, Gerard Coyne. Cutting 6,000 jobs is going to cripple the West Midland’s economy.

“This will be heart breaking news for the council employees whose jobs and families are under threat and further reinforces the savagery of the coalition’s austerity programme.”

The city faces about ÂŁ200m worth of cuts and the workforce, which stood at 20,000 in 2011 will be slashed back to just under 7,000 in the next three years. By 2018, a total of ÂŁ800m worth of cuts will have been imposed, which equates to 60 per cent of the controllable budget.

People rely on the council services to educate their children, care for the elderly, provide housing for those in need and for generating economic growth.

“Birmingham, which was a pioneer in municipal improvements under Joe Chamberlain in Victorian times, has been abandoned by George Osborne in London,” added Mr Coyne.

Sir Albert Bore, Birmingham city’s council leader blamed an “unfair distribution” of national government cuts. He admitted it was likely most of the cuts would have to be made through compulsorily redundancies.

“There is a huge amount of blame to be laid at the government’s door,” said Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr.

“The government focuses on Birmingham City Council and some of the larger metropolitan authorities in this way, cutting their funds disproportionately to other local authorities.

“This is a back-door mechanism by the government to get rid of politics they don’t like and people they don’t like. To starve people out because of their political affiliations and allegiance is unacceptable.”

The council’s 13,000 staff and residents now face an autumn of consultation over where the cuts will fall – with Sir Albert warning that some services are likely to be ‘discontinued’.

Fiona Farmer, Unite national officer for local governments said, “We have always warned that 70 per cent of the coalition’s cuts to local councils were still coming down the track. What is happening in Birmingham is and will be replicated across the country’s local authorities and will be strongly resisted.”