An organisation campaigning against public service cuts has said jobs including those of doctors, nurses and dentists will be lost under the government’s programme of trimming back spending. The group, called False Economy, refutes government claims that frontline spending on healthcare will be protected.
Bolton Council has had to let 100s of jobs go and slice £41 million from its budget, all decided in one furiously-debated nightly session. Members of the council were involved in heated exchanges before they passed the authority’s budget for 2011/12.
Blackburn with Darwen Council announced that it must shed 1,000 jobs as part of a proposed budget savings package of more than £25 million.
Manchester City Council announced savings of £39.5m, or 21 per cent, will be made at adult services where some charges will be introduced. The council also confirmed that 2,000 job losses will be made as it revealed full details of the cuts on its website.
The Pennine Acute Trust has launched a probe into why a manager told hundreds of workers that they were in danger of redundancy. The manager at the NHS Trust in Manchester told staff that at least a quarter of them would be made redundant in a blunder. The trust, which has to save £45m over the next year, said the manager did not have permission from bosses to make this statement.
A firm which makes well-known confectionery and biscuit products and is based in Merseyside is restructuring its operation. Burton’s Foods, which produces brands including Wagon Wheel, said it deeply regretted job losses that have occurred as a result of a business review. It revealed that its factory in Moreton, Merseyside, would close with the loss of 342 positions. The firm has six plants across the UK.
Former Liverpool dock worker Len McCluskey, the newly elected General Secretary of Unite, said the ballot for tanker drivers to vote on industrial action "was not about pay". The union leader stressed that the potential protest would be over working conditions in general. Mr McCluskey added: "We are calling for national standards to bring stability to the industry.
Unemployment in the North West increased by 2,000 in the three months to October, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The surprise increase to a total of 279,000 (8.1%) mirrors the overall pattern, especially in the north, and was driven by public sector job losses. Dr John Philpott, chief economic adviser at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, found the news especially disappointing.
More than fifty jobs are at risk following the announcement that Wesham Hospital Rehabilitation Unit in Lancashire is to close as part of a savings plan. Over the ensuing month services and patients at Wesham Hospital are to be transferred to Clifton Hospital, Lytham.
Managers at the Heinz factory at Wigan defended their stance in pay negotiations, while union representatives said workers were still willing to sit down with the company to avoid further strikes.