The natural wastage offered by the looming retirements was a golden opportunity to do just that.
Attempts will be made to reduce the civilian workforce through voluntary redundancies and natural wastage.
Retirements and natural wastage would account for a "considerable proportion" of the job cuts.
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It called for reductions to be made as far as possible by natural wastage.
Ray Cartwright, Unite works convener at Brough, said any further job losses must be through natural wastage.
For example, with 6% inflation and 3% natural wastage, in five years the government head count will be cut by 15%.
The council has said it will reduce its workforce by about 750 full-time posts through natural wastage, voluntary redundancies and service changes.
Measures include a recruitment freeze, a small number of redundancies, natural wastage and a review of housekeeping with areas like stationery and catering.
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They would share top managers but say this would happen over a number of years through retirements and natural wastage, rather than redundancies.
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Director David Orr told members 90 jobs within the department would be lost but he was confident that they would lose these staff through natural wastage.
Most redundancies are expected to come as a result of natural wastage and a freeze on recruitment, but the NUJ said 30 compulsory redundancies were being disputed.
Union estimates of 30, 000 public sector job losses in the North East look a reasonable guess, even if some will be lost through natural wastage rather than forced redundancies.
Up to 3, 000 senior staff, including heads and deputies, could be axed as schools are merged into "federations" run by a single team, most by natural wastage, Mr Balls said.
Most of the 2, 000 redundancies are expected to be as a result of natural wastage and a freeze on recruitment, but the NUJ said 30 compulsory redundancies were being disputed.
The size of the Welsh civil service has been reduced substantially, largely through natural wastage - it seems from outside at least, the process has been handled pretty adeptly though doubtless from the inside, the view may be different.
Living as they do in this regimented environment, it is expected there will be some natural wastage among the women commandos and the idea is that the state will settle down to a ratio of about 120, alongside 300 men.
Although it wants to keep all the brands and branches intact, it says there are many benefits from natural wastage (the number of people due to retire is rising quickly) and from cost-cutting in technology, which accounts for most of its savings.
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