The Birmingham UNISON has accused the Labour leadership of Birmingham City Council of losing its “Labour values” when making cuts to Council Services.
“Many cuts to services target the most needy and vulnerable citizens” says Omar Caseman, UNISON Assistant Branch Secretary for Adult Care. “We have seen closures to Adult Day Care Services and the complete destruction of the Homecare Enablement service.”
Along with the services to the vulnerable many of the staff cuts target the lowest paid and female workforce.
Refuse workers are rightly taking action against a cut of up to £8,000 pounds a year but they are not the only part of the workforce facing significant pay cuts. Omar Caseman states “The Council is proposing to cut the hours of nearly 400 Pupil Guides who escort 5,000 children a day to school. The cuts vary axing hours by between a third and a half reducing Pupil Guides income by up to £12,000.”
“Our Pupil Guide members are extremely angry at the proposal with many saying they would have to quit their jobs if the cut in hours goes through. The Council would lose experienced staff but it would also be very disruptive to young children with Special Educational needs who have built a relationship with their Guides over many years.”
“Whilst cutting the pay of low paid women the Council is literally throwing millions at high paid senior officers. In the 6 months up to Christmas 2024 the Council spent over £24 million pounds on what they refer to as “interim” staff who are normally highly paid and do not appear to have gone through an open recruitment process but are supplied by a company called Hays.”
“UNISON does not accept that cuts should be made to essential services or the pay of its workers but cannot understand why a Labour Council does this whilst wasting millions on short term highly paid interim staff.”
David Hughes
Branch Communications Officer