SENIOR OFFICIALS of Mayo County Council are to begin discussions with unions with a view to reducing the authority’s staff by 152 employees.
A dossier has been issued to representatives of four public sector unions, Siptu, TEEU, Impact and LAPO, identifying the posts deemed “surplus to requirements”.
The council is seeking to cut its annual wage bill by €6 million and negotiations will be ongoing for the next number of months.
County secretary John Condonsaid a 15 per cent cut in staff numbers is being sought under the Croke Park agreement. “A proportion of the staff reductions will be achieved through retirements and redeployments.
“We have been forced to take the course of action due to sharp decreases in our funding right across the board.”
Some 24 clerical officers are set to leave the council as a result of the cutbacks while 12 general operatives, 11 assistant staff officers, 11 plant operators, 10 site directors and eight site technicians are being made redundant.
The number of directors of services is being cut from six to five, one senior executive is to go while three of the 23 administrative officers will depart.
Other cutbacks include staff officers (five), executive engineers (six), assistant engineers (four), general service supervisors (five), foremen (five), craft workers (eight) and gangers (eight). The dossier includes staff of the three town councils as well as employees of Mayo County Enterprise Board.
Staff of Camp West, retained fire fighters and coroners are not affected by the move which will bring the number of staff down to 920 compared to 1,112 at the end of 2009.
Cllr Michael Kilcoyne said it was very depressing news for staff at a time when the authority has spent a big sum buying a former hotel in Castlebar.