Whilst this Guardian article proves that not every council has huge reserves it is impossible not to consider how many immediate job losses could be avoided if councils were prepared to raid their reserves instead of slashing jobs. If reserves are there for a rainy day, particularly as interest rates are pathetically low, then we are in the middle of a huge downpour and now is the time to spend: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/patrick-butler-cuts-blog/2011/jan/12/tory-council-says-no-to-cuts?&CMP=EMCSOCEML657
There is surely a role for UNISON to be asking to see the bank balances before agreeing to job losses.
Many branches have already raised this with the employers but it would be interesting see how the public react to councils who refused to budge on the issue of reserves?
This is not to say there will never be a need to reduce job numbers and reserves in the poorest areas are likely to be minimal, but even staving off some of the cuts until there is a real and less hurried assessment of financial outcomes is surely worth arguing for? Getting cuts through in a rush has advantages for the employers but there is often little advantage for the employees or our members.
