Join us on Thursday from 8:30am to protest the Council Budget
On Thursday, the Council will meet to approve its budget for 2023/24. The proposals look set to make around £18m worth of cuts, including axing Education Welfare Officers and Speech Language Therapists and forcing citizens to use online channels as part of a ‘digital by default’ approach.
Furthermore, the budget only accounts for a 3% pay rise for council workers, at a time where inflation stands at 13.4% with food prices having increased by 17% in the past year and mortgage rates and rent skyrocketing.
We are demonstrating, alongside Unison, the GMB and other trade unions and activists, outside the City Chambers on the Royal Mile, from 8:30am on Thursday 23 February.
We encourage all members who can to join us to send a clear message to councillors—reject further cuts to public services and stand with us against the Scottish Government to demand proper funding for local government.
The proposed cuts are part of over a decade of cuts in local government, caused by continued underfunding by the Scottish Government. The STUC’s paper
Options for increasing taxes in Scotland to fund investment in public services (PDF) outlines many ways in which the Scottish Government could raise the tax revenue to fund public services—methods they choose to ignore in favour of cuts to jobs and services.
We are clear in our stance—there is nothing more to cut, and there hasn’t been for years now, that doesn’t impact our communities and our most vulnerable, while heaping further pressure on the Council workforce. We are opposed to all cuts and call on the councillors to seriously consider whether they can, in good conscious, approve a budget with further cuts to services.