Cutting public sector jobs would hinder economic recovery, says Unite

15.02.10

Cutting public sector jobs would hinder, rather than help, Britain’s economic recovery, Unite, the country’s largest union, said today (Monday, 15 February).

Unite was responding to the report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) which said that almost one in three public sector employers plan to shed jobs this quarter.

Unite said that the public sector was ‘integral’ to recovery, as the CIPD predicted that defence and administration in the public sector would be particularly hard hit.

Gail Cartmail, Unite assistant general secretary for the public sector said public sector unions, such as Unite, had a key role to play in supporting workers during these difficult times and to show the negative effect of losing skills and know-how which happens when staff are made redundant - and these skills are then very difficult to recover.

 

Gail Cartmail said: ”Public services and their staff are integral to the UK's recovery from the global recession caused by reckless banking practices.

”Organisations, such as Oxfam, and numerous leading economists caution against cutting public services, as they view recovery as being reliant on the stimulus and support public expenditure provides.

”According to TUC analysis, a 10 per cent cut in 2007 - 2008 public sector expenditure equates to 200,000 jobs.

“In cities, such as Newcastle where two thirds of the economically active are employed in the public sector, the impact of such cuts would be devastating to the local economy - reduced taxation, reduced spending and, ironically greater reliance, on public services such as Job Centres and increased government expenditure on supporting the unemployed and their families.“

The CIPD's survey of more than 700 employers found that firms in all sectors plan to cut 6.2 per cent of their workforce in the first three months of 2010, compared with 3.8 per cent in the previous quarter.