New job fearsas cutbackstake effect

A Cumbernauld councillor is demanding to know how many more jobs will be cut at North Lanarkshire Council - one ofthe area’s biggest employers - as austerity cuts continue to bite.
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In a motion put to thefull council SNP man Tom Johnston said: “This council has already shed 1,707 full-time equivalent jobs and is currently going through a further,additional, 744 job- cutting programme.

“It is known that at least 60 per cent of cuts are still to come and that the UK National Debt of £1.4 trillion has not even begun to be tackled.”

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He added: “North Lanarkshire Council itself is already writing of cuts beyond 2015-16 in its official reports to councillors.

“It’s time to set out future prospects so that Council employees trying to plan their futures have some inkling of future employment trends with North Lanarkshire and with the public sector in general.”

Among Councillor Johnston’s concerns are job loss figures appearing to show that across the UK under a quarter of public sector jobs expected to go by 2019 have gone.

He also fears the consequences of a massive new round of austerity measured planned by UK Chancellor George Osborne - “including £12 billion in welfare cuts and estimates of hundreds of millions of pounds off the annual block grant to the Scottish Government.”

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North Lanarkshire Council is said to have shed 1,707 full time jobs between June 2007 and September,2013 .

It’s also said to be currently entering the second year of a three year plan to shed 744 jobs.

The Cumbernauld councillor’s fears echo concerns among other councils hat local authorities will be under increasing strain at a time when cuts to welfare benefits and other measures are making increasing demands.