Defend Dundee Services

Dundee City Council proposes to cut £14 million from its 2013/14 budget.

In making these cuts Dundee City Council will: -

• Cut 5% from the budget of organisations that provide vital, essential services in our communities, services such as day care, respite care, housing support, outreach services, advocacy services, leisure centres, libraries and museums.

• Close Marchbanks recycling centre making recycling any thing but garden waste almost impossible for those living in the west of the city without their own transport.

• Increase class sizes in our schools

• Cut by almost 50% the staff mileage allowance for those staff who use their cars as part of their jobs. That’s social workers, building safety engineers, support workers and many other essential workers who use their own cars to deliver essential services on a daily basis.

• Reduce, again, the number of people it employs via another round of voluntary retirement/redundancies, losing many experienced members of staff and leaving staff who remain struggling to maintain the service with increased workloads. The job of those who leave via this scheme are not filled and never will be, these posts are deleted, 100’s of jobs removed from Dundee forever.

• And much, much more.

Cuts to services, job losses, redundancies, increased food prices, extortionate heating costs, rocketing travel costs, cuts in benefits, pay freezes and rocketing rents mean that Dundonians need a well funded public service to assist them and their communities survive the months and years to come.

Defend Dundee Services Campaign believes Dundee’s politician should be protecting it’s services and not cutting them to pay for the mistakes of millionaire bankers and to assist the UK Governments in its ideological assault on our public services and our welfare state.

The most vulnerable in society should not be abandoned by those elected to serve them, Dundee Politicians should be protecting and improving services to the sick, old, disabled and the young, and they should be supporting the ever increasing number of unemployed and those on low pay. They should vote No to cuts in essential services and public spending.

For some it may be a tough decision to make but Defend Dundee Services Campaign believes that Dundee City Council should set “needs budgets” that protects services rather than cut budgets and reduce services.

Support our lobbies of the full council meeting at 5.30pm on 11th February at the City
Chambers, and at the Policy & Resources Committee meeting at the City Chambers, at
12:30pm on Thursday 14th February. Before then, lobby your councillors to oppose the
cuts.

For more information about Defend Dundee Services Campaign, Google us on
Facebook or write to DDSC, c/o Dundee TUC, 141 Yarrow Terrace, Dundee DD2 4DY

******The Defend Dundee Services Campaign was set up in June 2010 following the election of the Tory/Lib Dem coalition at Westminster. We campaign to oppose cuts in our local jobs and services. The proposed cuts in budgets have arisen as a direct result of paying off the deficit created by bailing out the UK banking sector.

We say enough is enough. The council must agree, at the very least, a needs-based budget that will maintain services and jobs.