Union vows to fight NI civil service job cuts

Union chiefs tonight vowed to fight any move by Gordon Brown to axe a quarter of administrative jobs in Northern Ireland’s civil service.

As the British chancellor came under pressure over his plans to slash public sector numbers, NIPSA officials warned it would cause catastrophe.

General Secretary John Corey claimed up to 4,000 administrative posts could go, halting crucial services.

He said: “This would equate to a 22% cut in current staffing and would mean that vital public services could not be provided.

“This would be a disaster for the people of Northern Ireland and the loss of jobs would also be a disaster for the local economy.”

Mr Brown announced 20,000 civil service job cuts across the province, Scotland and Wales as part of his spending review.

Although the British government has not disclosed how many Northern Ireland Office redundancies will be included, Mr Corey seized on reports of 4,000 posts under threat.

He pledged: “We will strongly defend members’ jobs against arbitrary cuts.

“We want to see efficient high quality public services delivered by public service staff. That will not be achieved by this type of arbitrary job cuts announcement which only destroy the morale and commitment of staff.”

As fears deepened over losses which will total more than 100,000 across the UK, SDLP leader Mark Durkan led a party delegation that met British finance and personnel minister Ian Pearson.

Mr Durkan, who was accompanied by MLA Patsy McGlone, claimed he could get no explanation over the strategic rationale for the redundancies.

“The minister did not really answer our questions on the public service implications of large-scale job cuts, nor was he able to answer us on the implications in terms of budgets or anything else if targets are not achieved,” the SDLP chief said.

“He tried to assure us that nothing would happen without discussions with the trade unions, but we pointed out that this rang hollow against the background of the civil service dispute and the seemingly scrambled targets that have been announced.”

Mr Pearson responded to the concerns by insisting there was scope in Northern Ireland for reducing back-office posts so more people could be put on front line services.

“Last January I said that we would be taking a tough line on the costs of administration and bureaucracy in Northern Ireland and that public sector managers would be required to review their systems and structures to keep these costs to a minimum,” he said.

“I will be announcing the outcome of that work and the implications for civil service numbers in Northern Ireland when we publish our own draft spending plans in September.”

Ulster Unionist MP Lady Sylvia Hermon added to the clamour over the plans and revealed she would be demanding urgent clarification from the British government.

She claimed: “Text messaging is an appalling way to make people redundant, but what is the difference between that and the insensitivity of the chancellor standing up in the House of Commons and without any qualms or any hesitation bluntly announcing that more than 100,000 jobs were going to be axed?”