Labour's jobs fears at council firm plan
Job losses could follow moves to involve other local authorities in plans to create a new company to run some council services in Shropshire to make money, the county's Labour leader warned today.
Job losses could follow moves to involve other local authorities in plans to create a new company to run some council services in Shropshire to make money, the county's Labour leader warned today.
Councillor Alan Mosley said he was concerned at plans to bring in other authorities as shareholders in the firm, allowing the council to run some services for profit with others, including private companies.
He said there was a 'significant danger of jobs being exported to other areas'.
His warning comes after council leaders said the system should actually create local jobs, as well as provide 'more secure employment' for existing council staff.
But Councillor Mosley said care needed to be taken to prevent the loss of jobs and a decline in services.
"Collaboration with others is good in so ar as it may improve efficiency, bring economies of scale and improve quality through the sharing of best practice," he said.
"However, there is a significant danger of jobs being exported to other areas and a massive black hole being created for Shropshire services if things go wrong."
He was also concerned that the creation of the company could hit the powers of councillors to affect the way services are run.
He added this was evident with some of the contracts in operation with private providers, such as Veolia, which runs waste collection, and Serco, which is in talks to take over the running of five council leisure centres.
"It does mean less powers to councillors and local people. The Veolia contract is for 27 years, the Serco one is for 10 years plus," he said.
Councillor Keith Barrow, leader of Shropshire Council, said today: "It is utterly ridiculous at this stage to promote the suggestion of potential job losses through these new ways of working.
"The guiding ethos behind our plans is to actively encourage inward investment into Shropshire, open up opportunities for new ways of working and deliver strong, sustainable jobs for the future.
"Councillor Mosley and I have discussed this at length, and I find it pure scaremongering that he is adopting these futile tactics.
"In fact, he was surprised and I'm sure delighted by how well we have managed the redeployment of our staff across the council."