Local public servants might be breathing more easily than their Commonwealth counterparts in the lead-up to the budget next week, but news of redundancies in Territory and Municipal Services is a reminder that territory employees will also feel the pinch.

“The budgets are being really pushed harder than ever before through the agencies so we're seeing a lot of pressures through different areas,” Community and Public Sector Union ACT secretary Vince McDevitt said. “There are fiscal pressures right across the service. They’re looking for efficiencies everywhere.”

Jobs will also go with the sale of ACTTAB by the end of June. More than 130 people are employed by the betting agency.

TAMS director general Gary Byles told staff he would advise them on Friday, May 9, which jobs were excess and from June 2 they would be expected to choose redundancy or redeployment. There would be no forced redundancies, he said.

ACTION buses, the parks and city services section were quarantined from the job cuts, since they were subject to separate reviews. Cemeteries, the linen service and the Yarralumla Nursery would also remain unaffected.

TAMS has 2046 staff. Treasurer Andrew Barr said the ACT government remained committed to its election promise to maintain overall staff numbers in the ACT public service.

Mr McDevitt said the government was in danger of treating the public service “like a magic pudding”. With nowhere left to cut, the result would be reduced services to the public.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union ACT secretary Dean Hall urged the government to tread carefully and not make the pain of federal cuts worse.

“I hope this has been part of a well-thought-out structured analysis of what is needed and not simply a money crunching exercise,” he said.

“We should all take a deep breath and think about any job losses if they’re really needed or whether as a community we can afford to carry some jobs a bit longer so we can maintain a community. The feds are going to do such a job on us we’ve got to make sure we’ve got enough people left behind.”

He urged the government not to take the jobs from frontline services.

“As times get tough, dropping those services and exposing vulnerable workers wouldn’t be a smart strategy from any government,” he said.

“We hope they lead the way and be smart about possible redundancies, not make it simply about the numbers but about the community and what services we need to maintain. It’s time for them to stand up for our community in the face of what Tony Abbott and his henchmen are doing.”

Unions were told about the cuts in a meeting last week involving the metal workers, transport workers, parks workers, engineers and electrical trades. But Transport Workers Union ACT secretary Klaus Pinkas said he expected most of his members to be quarantined for now, with the review of ACTION not due for another year, and the review of parks and city services due later this year.

Mr Byles said the initial focus in efforts to save $2 million would be “back of house and corporate functions”. But other areas were likely to be affected.