A trade union has warned workers at Cornwall Council to brace themselves for compulsory redundancies, claiming scores of people are within a matter of weeks of being laid off.
Speaking to BBC News, Unison's Stuart Roden admitted that it now appears inevitable that significant numbers of sackings could be in the pipeline, with the local authority looking to cut up to 2,000 jobs over the next four years.
"We want to minimise it as far as possible, but I think realistically we are talking about hundreds of compulsory redundancies," he told the news provider. "We know it is coming fairly imminently."
Unison members are set to be balloted over proposed alterations to pay and conditions which are expected to protect 200 jobs and the council said in a statement that it is "committed" to minimising the impact of falling public spending.
Last week, it was revealed that more than 1,000 members of staff at Cumbria County Council had expressed an interest in accepting voluntary redundancy.
Posted by Hayley Edwards