Council leaders have been accused of “declaring war” on the jobs and public services of the people of Dundee.
The Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) spoke out after the SNP rejected calls to stall its budget setting and call on the Scottish Government to deliver more money to councils.
The organisation, which campaigns against public spending cuts, said the decisions made by the administration were “ludicrous and unacceptable”.
The council claimed to have no choice other than to accept the savage £23 million cuts package facing the city.
And it voted against a proposal from opposition groups calling on it to write to John Swinney, asking him to review the city’s funding and increase the budget for Dundee.
Scottish TUSC spokesman Philip Stott said: “Ludicrously, the SNP’s finance convener claimed: ‘We are standing up to this problem. We are not running away from it.’
“Standing up to the problem would mean launching a campaign of mass defiance, refusing to make the cuts and using every financial lever at their disposal, as outlined by the council trade unions and TUSC, to set a no-cuts budget.
“This would then allow time to build a campaign for the resources needed to reverse the impact of the already approaching £50 million cut from the city budget since 2010.
“‘Standing up to the problem’ is not the planned destruction of hundreds of jobs and the tearing down of services that the people of Dundee rely on.
“The SNP group are running away from the only alternative to inflicting Tory austerity on a city that delivered the biggest Yes vote in Scotland in the 2014 independence referendum.
“That alternative is fighting for a return of the tens of millions stolen from Dundee over the last five years.”
Dundee’s trade unions have called for a no-cuts budget and have also signalled their intention to protest against the council cuts.
Members plan to march though the city on January 30.
Details of the event are still being finalised in conjunction with the council and police.
Mike Arnott, secretary of the Dundee Trades Council, spoke in disparaging terms of the SNP administration following this week’s budget decision.
He pledged to continue to fight against the cuts, which could cost hundreds of council employees their jobs.
The demonstration will be just one part of that campaign. He said: “We want to see a demonstration from the city council of a commitment to stand up for the people of this city, rather than simply acting as a rubber stamp for the Scottish Government.”