Union protest cuts before council budget meeting

Falkirk Joint Trade Union Committee (JTUC) is staging a demonstration outside Falkirk Council headquarters this week over proposed cuts contained in this year's budget

The event, which starts at 8am on Wednesday, coincides with the council’s meeting to decide its budget for 2018/19.

According to the JTUC, Falkirk has seen on average £11 million of cuts from its’ services each year for the last ten years and this year sees a huge rise of up to £17 million of cuts and enough is enough.

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Colin Finlay, JTUC secretary, said: “For over a decade services and jobs have been cut and reduced – it’s time for trade union members throughout the council to say stop and enough.

“Cuts to services mean a reduced service and job losses. We have a new administration and hope they listen and see the depth of feeling and deliver a budget that has no cuts and not only sees services maintained but brought back to satisfactory levels.

“The people of Falkirk deserve better.”

Council Leader Cecil Meiklejohn said today, two days before the demonstration, she had received no information from the JTUC on the planned action, but would be happy to meet with them to talk to them about their concerns.

Talking to The Falkirk Herald ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, Councillor Meiklejohn said the administration had come up with a budget that protected front-line services and any cuts that were going to be made would in the back room area of the council, through voluntary means without going down the road of compulsory redundancy.

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She added: “Officers are asked to bring forward options we may or may not choose to give consideration to. The vast majority of reductions have come as a result of back room services within the council with no compulsory redundancies.”