Highland Council leaves union in the dark over budget that could cost jobs
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The GMB was given no advance warning about revelations Highland Council is facing a high risk of redundancies due to the huge shortfall in its budget, estimated at between £46 million and £70 million.
Last week the local authority faced a day of reckoning over its revenue budget which funds the running of services as well as the infrastructure budget which lost £223 million in one go.
The council came in for criticism for the lack of communication over the perceived lack of interest in informing those concerned – like the unions or communities who lost school funding – and were taken by surprise.
A GMB spokesman said they are 'under no illusions' about the issues at the council but finding out about them by watching a meeting is 'not the most opportune time to release this sort of information from our point of view'.
He said: “We have not been approached by the council as yet and what we have heard about the budget has come from reading the official report and listening to the webcast of the meeting.
“But we are expecting an approach for a meeting in December – that, however, is a regular meeting.”
He said there are doubts as well over where the service cuts will land but he argued that “ if you fund services, you fund staff.”
“As a union we are under no illusions about what the forthcoming years’ budgets could mean for staffing and the potential for risks to staffing levels,” he said. “The ‘no compulsory redundancies’ policy seems to have moved over time to a ‘hope for no compulsory redundancies’.
“During that time the council has more or less been able to maintain services and therefore staffing levels but the council now has to decide where to turn to, to make cuts, where savings can be made.
“The pay negotiations – as can be seen in the news – are not delivering for our members and we are looking for Cosla to put more money into local authorities: if you fund services, you fund staff.
“We always maintain in union negotiations that if you tell people about changes then you can take them with you so waiting until the webcast and the official report is not the most opportune time to release this sort of information from our point of view.”
Highland Council said the unions would be included in future talks as a key stakeholder in how the bosses will 'manage the projected budget shortfall'.
A spokeswoman said: “The revenue budget report to council provided a year end forecast based on the first quarter of the current year and a projected budget gap for next year.
"Further detailed work will need to be done on how the council will manage the projected budget shortfall.
“This will involve engagement with staff, communities and a number of stakeholders. All communication and engagement will be based on a budget strategy which is under development.”
