Plaid Cymru’s AM and MP have spoken of their outrage that Carmarthenshire County Council has sought to mislead county workers on the future of their jobs. Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM and Jonathan Edwards MP have been accused of ‘scaremongering’ after they raised their concerns about the potential of 500 jobs being lost in the county.
However, the 500 job figure came directly from the council through both its Chief Executive and an official spokesperson.
Jonathan Edwards MP said:
“I am disappointed that instead of facing the facts and being honest about the situation the council are attempting to use people’s jobs as a political football. When Rhodri and I raised concern about 500 potential job losses we did so because a spokesperson for the council publicly stated that as a fact. This was in addition to the Council’s Chief Executive stating that fact to staff. It was noted by the Chief Executive that compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out. To suggest it is a figure that we have come up with is not only dishonest it is disgraceful.”
Rhodri Glyn Thomas AM added:
“Quite frankly this goes to show the way the Labour-Independent council wish to go about cutting jobs. They made it clear that anything up to 500 jobs could be lost in the county. When we as the areas AM and MP noted our concern we did so in the hope of creating a constructive dialogue to work together in the hope of keeping these cuts at a minimum. The council should be ashamed of themselves that they are now seeking to ignore the implications of their statement. There is no scaremongering on our behalf only a public call for the council to be honest about where they stand and what measures will have to be taken. To suggest that trying to protect local workers is the cause of ‘unnecessary anxiety’ goes to show the contempt at which some Executive board members view local fears on this matter.”
