Clean-up is a jobs scandal
Every day thousands of people across Scotland volunteer their time to help charities, communities and other people.
Volunteering can make a real difference in someone’s life as it can give them new skills, challenges and experiences.
However, volunteers should not replace paid employees and that is what is happening here in Renfrewshire with the community clean ups.
A Freedom of Information request to Renfrewshire Council has revealed that since 2007, over 300 jobs have been lost in environmental services, one-in-six of the workforce, with around 280 of those 300 axed during the SNP and Liberal Democrat administration of 2007-12.
What the SNP never takes into account is the skills and standards that our workers possess.
No other organisation has that level of experience and the council cannot afford to throw it away.
The community spirit shown by many groups is admirable and welcoming, however, it is not sustainable in the long term.
We should not accept a position that sees volunteers replace paid staff. That is what is happening in environmental services.
Volunteers should supplement the work of street cleaning staff, not replace them.
The cost of austerity and cuts to councils has resulted in hundreds of thousands of council jobs lost across Scotland in the last decade.
These are choices forced upon town halls by the SNP Government.
The Tories have wrongly cut the Scottish Government budget, however the SNP has quadrupled that cut and passed it on to councils, leaving councillors of all parties facing serious and difficult consequences.
Last week, the Accounts Commission reported that funding for councils was cut in real terms, by £220 million in the last year.
With the budget for the coming financial year due to be announced by local administrator of austerity Derek Mackay, local authorities should be given assurances that they will be properly funded in real terms.