Libraries are likely to be closed on Friday 13 and Monday 16 August, as Unison members strike over the introduction of volunteers and the closure of Thornhill and Millbrook libraries.

"While recruiting a new senior manager on Ł120,000 a year, the Council is scrapping seven front line library jobs to make the same amount of savings," said Unison Branch Secretary Mike Tucker.  "Libraries need professional staff to provide a modern service to the people of Southampton.  Untrained, unskilled, unreliable volunteers will not provide this service.  The Conservative Party’s 'Big Society' is a smokescreen covering up savage cuts in vital services.  Southampton librarians are determined to resist the destruction of their service."

Cabinet member for leisure Councillor John Hannides previously told bitternepark.info: “We have not announced the closure of any libraries with the exception of those that are part of a regeneration scheme, and we have not announced any redundancies as a result of our volunteering scheme.”

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