Union fury at Bradford Council redundancy letters

Union leaders have accused Bradford council of ruining Christmas for thousands of workers by sending out redundancy notices to all its staff.

Letters have been issued to the authority's 9,500-strong workforce as it looks to slash about 2,500 jobs as part of government cuts.

Unite officer Ray Jones described it as a "callous" act and demanded the council retracted the notice.

The council said it hoped it would only result in voluntary redundancies.

Regional officer Mr Jones said: "This is a callous and totally unwarranted act by the council.

"The needless distress caused to workers so close to Christmas is simply unacceptable and Unite is demanding that the council retracts the letters immediately.

"It is bad enough that the council intends to make staff redundant, but it has gone even further and ruined Christmas for its entire workforce who now don't know whether they have a job in the new year or not.

"While the blame for this attack on public sector workers quite firmly lies at the government's door, the council's approach has only made matters worse."

Labour council leader Ian Greenwood said it was a serious situation and that the council was working to ensure the effect on staff and services was minimal.

"It's desperate. It's one of the worst decisions of my political career to do this because I value and we value the job we do.

"When people are providing a service and doing their best, and to be in this situation through no fault of their own, it's desperate.

"But the reality is we're trying to get through this in the way that has the least effect on people that we serve and people who work for us."