The department is to cut at least the equivalent of 14 staff from waste services, 38 staff from municipal services and eight workers from its engineering and highways section.
The majority of the job cuts, which so far total the equivalent, in terms of full-time positions, of 61 full-time staff, will be achieved through ‘natural wastage’, which means that employees leaving the department will not be replaced.
Staff numbers will be further reduced through voluntary and compulsory redundancies.
A contract to provide gardening services to Andium Homes, the company responsible for States Housing, will be terminated at the end of this year and the service put out to private tender. It is understood the move will save Andium 30 to 50 per cent of its gardening costs.
And other gardening contracts, including to the Education Department, are also to be cancelled, as the States seek £70 million of staff savings in the public sector.
A statement from the Transport Department, in response to a written question tabled by Deputy Geoff Southern this week, said that it was reviewing its services to allow its finances to be ‘sustainable in the long term’ and it would announce any reductions and outsourcing of services once the review was complete.
John Rogers, chief executive of the department, who admitted that compulsory redundancies were likely, said that there was no set figure for job losses.
‘We hope that a lot of the cuts can come through voluntary redundancies but I am sure we will have to make some compulsory redundancies.’
Nick Corbel of Unite, Jersey’s largest union, said that he was ‘absolutely disgusted’ by the news of jobs cuts.
He said: ‘The reason they want to do this is because it will be cheaper for services to be provided by the private sector who are going to replace our workforce.
‘TTS have been touting business and inviting the private sector into the work place to tender and that is why they have been able to benchmark their costs.
‘They have not considered that private-sector employees might be working on zero-hour contracts, there will be no guarantees in terms of employment rights and they might not have pensions.
‘Health and safety is also an issue, and additional costs can be associated with that.
‘I feel that the Transport Department and the States of Jersey just don’t care about workers’ rights and that there are going to be redundancies.
‘They say that this will save money but once the bubble has been broken it will be a free-for-all for the private sector who will just put their prices right back up again.’
He added: ‘All this is is an opportunity to drive through more privatisation.’
Mr Corbel also criticised the States Employment Board for not directly advising Unite of the staff cutbacks.
He said: ‘It’s unacceptable that there’s no communication between my office and the States Employment Board about these austerity measures and how they will impact on the services and the work force.
‘There was complete and utter silence and it’s shameful that we have had to find this out through the States Assembly.’
The total manpower within the Transport Department at the end of 2014 was the equivalent of 467.5 staff.
