When I first started working for a Local Authority, my boss immediately gave me the job of sorting out all the applications (over 200 – which is why he didn’t want to do it himself) that there had been for my job. I remember seeing that a significant number of applicants had been interested in the post because (as one guy succinctly put under ‘What attracts you about the job?’), “I’m looking for something to wind down to retirement with”.
But, even then, the tide had started to turn and I had been taken on to try to bring a more commercial point of view to the Direct Works Division (the people that used to come around to fix streetlights, repair the road or collect the rubbish). In fact, the interview question that got me the job was:
“What is the primary function of a company?”
I answered: “To make a profit – would you like me to expand?”.
I struggled for years against an attitude that it was a job for life before, in the end, I just gave up and moved on. I remember hearing such things as:
- “It’s been here since long before you came and will be here long after you’ve gone”
- “That’s the way it’s always been done”
- “It’s not our function to be commercial”
- “Stop trying to rock the boat”
… and so on.
No-one in my department (other than myself and my boss) could see that the writing was on the wall. Now, with the news that 162,000 jobs in 290 Local Authorities are in jeopardy, it’s all very clear.
But even that number will not be the final total.
The proposed job losses are spread as follows:
- North West – 29,812
- West Midlands – 21,504
- Yorkshire and Humber – 21,233
- London – 15,390
- Scotland – 15,362
- East Midlands – 11,909
- South East – 13,596
- South West – 11,802
- Eastern – 10,176
- North East – 9,488
- Wales – 2,446
At the moment, the GMB union and the Local Authority chiefs are undergoing the statutory 90-day consultation period. Even though shedding vacant posts and accepting voluntary redundancies will help, the lay-offs will still come as a blow to many administrative personnel who, without a commercial background, will find it hard to get work elsewhere. I should know, I had to battle against that prejudice myself. I was deemed ‘contaminated’ because I had spent 5 years ‘working for the council’.
As a result of the privatisation of many Local Authority services, many of the job losses are invisible knock-on effects as all public services are cut back.
As the GMB’s General Secretary, Paul Kenny puts it, “… there are additional job losses in the voluntary Big Society sector and in the outsourced private sector.” The consequences of this massive round of redundancies will therefore not just be limited to the laid-off workers.
“Frontline services for the most vulnerable people in our society are being affected by the cuts. The impact for those who depend on these services will be devastating. Some services, like meals on wheels in some authorities, are now only available to those at death’s door.”
The cuts extend right across the board and include the Emergency Services – an irony considering relatively recent governmental promises and campaigns to swell its numbers.
In the world of work the only certainty is uncertainty.
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