Salma Yaqoob

With up to 7,000 council workers facing the axe Birmingham’s own ConDem coalition would do well to listen to UNISON leader Dave Prentis. He warns that slashing public spending puts at risk economic recovery, ‘If you cut public sector jobs, you close off opportunities to the young and those made redundant by the private sector. If you cut public sector jobs, you damage local economies. For every £1 a public sector worker earns, they spend nearly 70p of it in the local economy – the local shops, the local hairdressers, local bars and local businesses.’ Read more here.