Crossing guards under threat in council cuts plan

Published on Tuesday 7 September 2010 18:42

SCORES of lollipop men and women in Edinburgh are facing the axe under new plans set to be considered by council chiefs.

The proposal would see 76 school crossing guides removed from "green man" crossings, saving the council 300,000. They would remain on patrol at zebra crossings without lights.

It is one of a series of cuts being proposed by officials as the council struggles to save at least 90 million over the next three years.

The news was broken to the Capital's 180 lollipop men and women yesterday.

One, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "We were told there is a proposal to get rid of every lollipop person who's working on a controlled crossing. That's going to leave no crossing guides at all at a lot of schools.

"If there's one fatality or one child that's knocked down because of these cutbacks, there will be an absolute stooshie.

"It's to do with saving money in the council, but the crossing guides get paid peanuts. They should be looking at the hierarchy in the council - the folk that are earning 50,000 a year, not the jobs at the bottom, of people who are looking after children."

The proposal has been put forward by council officers as part of the ongoing process to slash the city's spending, but councillors said they had yet to be convinced.

Transport convenor Councillor Gordon Mackenzie said: "The proposals are a harsh reminder of the financial outlook for councils across the country.

"Nevertheless they will have to do a lot of work to convince parents like myself that this proposal is merited, even in these circumstances."

A council spokeswoman said that if the proposal was accepted, councillors would then discuss how to minimise redundancies by, for example, timing the job losses over several years and not replacing staff who retired.

John Stevenson, branch president of Unison, which represents some of the crossing guides, said he feared the crossing staff proposals would be the first of many. "There are lots of people going to lose their jobs," he said.

"We're talking about 90 million to be cut over the next three years. The sheer level of these cuts are bound to have job losses and these are bound to affect services.

"There is no slack any more, we're talking about whole services going here."