Council staff celebrate win in cuts battle

Labour-controlled North Lanarkshire Council was due to vote on the £73m cuts package threatening 1,400 jobs which has been drawn up by officials following a widely criticised online "consultation."

But at a policy and resources committee meeting held after Thursday's noisy public protest, council leader Jim McCabe moved to postpone the increasingly controversial cuts decision which had been scheduled.

Public-sector union Unison North Lanarkshire branch secretary John Mooney told the Morning Star: "We've been calling on the council to put a halt on the cuts process and get everyone involved around the table to discuss this.

"We believe our members jobs should be protected and the services we provide for our communities should be preserved.

"North Lanarkshire council plans to unilaterally slash 15 per cent of the budget of every service.

"This is after making £55m worth of cuts over the last two years. How much more pain are we expected to take - another 1,400 jobs of pain? We say enough is enough."

Mr McCabe told the committee on Thursday they would have "the opportunity to discuss the proposal at a specially convened meeting" - but no date for that has been set.

Thursday's lunchtime rally organised by North Lanarkshire Unison at the Civic Centre in Motherwell was attended by over 200 union members and community activists despite torrential freezing rain and ice underfoot.

Activists dressed up as grim reapers to symbolise the deadly effect the cuts package would have on jobs and services.

Unison Scottish secretary Mike Kirby pledged support for their campaign.

He said Britain-wide cuts "are not about austerity measures to meet an economic problem, but about politics - a politics that hates public services and loves to profit from privatisation.

"If the council, or any other council, moves to any form of compulsory redundancies, Unison will consult on industrial action."