Thursday, 23 February 2012

SOUTHWARK COUNCIL SET TO CUT £18 million FROM VITAL SERVICES

Cuts will affect the most vulnerable. These are just some:

Nearly  £1m  to  be  cut  from  Early  Years  Education  and  Children‘s  Centres.  Loss  of  childcare   from  the  Bishop’s  House  and  South  Bermondsey  Children’s  Centres.  24  Nursery  Officers  &   6 domestic staff CUT.

Total cut of most of the 10 open access youth clubs (20% of Southwark population are under 15). 60% reduction in staffing.

50%  cut  to  ‘Connexions’  careers  service  which  helps  single  parents,  young  offenders  and   other young people find jobs. 20 people chase every job vacancy in Southwark.

Closure of either Fred Francis Day Centre or Southwark Park Day Centre - which look after older people with mental health conditions.

45% funding cut to Maroons - a centre which caters for BME mental health patients

Councillors – you should stand with the people, not the government.

The  Council  dress  cuts  up  as  ‘targeting’,  ‘restructuring’,  or  ‘redesigning’  services.  But  they  will   cut deep into services needed by the vulnerable. Cuts mean job losses, increased workloads, and  pay  cuts.  Councillors  claim  they  don’t  like  cuts  but  they  are  making  them  anyway.  It’s  like   being mugged for £100 and the thief throws back £10, expecting you to be thankful!

Bad – yes, and even worse to come

We saw how cuts last year slashed council jobs and increased workloads to impossible levels. This will continue unless we stop the cuts going through. Service users and council employees must stand side by side to stop the government cutting our precious services to shreds. George Osborne has promised another 3 YEARS of cuts after this. His agenda is clear:

Increase privatisation profit-hungry companies taking over health, education and environ- mental services.

Cuts in pay year-on-year, in public and private sectors - unless you are a leader of one of the UK’s  top  100  companies,  whose  pay  increased  by  47%  last  year.

Attacking pensions (work longer, pay more, die younger). The Government could wipe out the deficit by preventing £120 billion in tax avoidance by companies like Vodafone.

THERE IS A FIGHTBACK

Last week, 8 Labour councillors resigned rather than make cuts in Glasgow. Councillors should act on principles, not party allegiances condemning us to years of austerity.

Over 2 million trade unionists went on strike in November for decent pensions and against a government  of  millionaires  who  are  making  us  pay  for  a  crisis  we  didn’t  create.

Demonstrate LOUDLY this Wed 29 Feb, 6 pm at Peckham Town Hall. Tell everyone.
Get your trade union branch, campaign group, residents association, service-user group etc.
to  back  the  demonstration;  (see  Facebook  event  ‘Southwark  F29  against  the  Cuts’)

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