Unions to 'vigorously oppose' Aberdeen Council cuts

Aberdeen City Council aims to cut £120m from its budget over five years

Unions representing 900 Aberdeen City Council staff facing the axe have said they will "vigorously oppose" the cuts.

It emerged on Tuesday that voluntary redundancy was no longer an option after a call for staff to take a voluntary 5% pay cut was rejected.

The council said it would therefore go ahead with compulsory redundancies to help make savings of £120m.

A Unison spokeswoman said: "We are very disappointed that the council are refusing to engage constructively."

Representatives from Unison, Unite, Ucatt (Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians), GMB and EIS (Educational Institute of Scotland) met in Aberdeen to discuss how to oppose the cuts.

The Unison spokeswoman said: "We think there are other steps which can be taken to cut costs.

"We will be vigorously opposing the number of and extent of the redundancies in local consultations going forward."

Strike action has not been ruled out.

More than 2,000 staff at the council are Unison members.

On Tuesday a council spokesman said that following the rejection of its pay cut offer for staff earning more than £21,000 a year it had "no alternative" but to move to compulsory redundancies.

The local government agency Cosla warned that other councils may also face cuts on the same level.