Aberdeen union bosses have urged the council not to sack workers as it faces down a multi-million-pound black hole in upcoming crunch budget talks.
A senior figure in the Unite union said the group has been advised to expect notices of possible redundancies from the authority.
More than £40 million of cuts and savings were made in last year’s negotiations and forecasts in November predicted another swingeing £38 million of cuts to come this year.
The ruling Conservative, Aberdeen Labour and independent coalition at the council has long blamed the low funding it receives from the Scottish Government for the situation, but critics have questioned their spending priorities in office.
A key policy of the administration is to not directly sack workers but instead direct them to early retirement or voluntary redundancy.
John Boland, regional officer for Unite, said: “We have been informed that Aberdeen City Council will be sending us a section 188 notification of possible redundancies.
“We have also been told this is a legal requirement as, due to re-organisations, some posts may be made redundant or voluntary redundancy offered, and that in line with the ‘no redundancy’ political agreement, there will be no compulsory redundancies.
“Obviously, it concerns us that any reduction in posts may take place, as this reduces services to the people of Aberdeen, and even if there is redeployment available, this will cause upset and distress for our members.”
A city council spokesman said: “Aberdeen City Council is continuing our transformation process to ensure the highest level of service delivery and best use of public monies.
“This transformation continues to involve both increased use of digital technologies and service redesign.
“The service redesign process may, in some cases, result in changes to job roles and there is at such times a legal requirement to issue a statutory consultation notice to recognised trade unions.
“Nonetheless the ongoing political commitment to no compulsory redundancies within the authority remains firmly in place”.
Council co-leader Douglas Lumsden added: “One of our key policies going into the administration was to reassure staff there will be no compulsory redundancies during our term.
“Given the financial situation we know that staff will have to go but we are committed to do this through voluntary redundancies and early retirement.”
