Unions meet today over plans to slash 300 jobs and cut council services in Southampton.

Members of the Unison and Unite unions at the city council will discuss what action to take in response to the cuts revealed earlier this week.

The city council’s Labour leadership revealed the worst cuts the city has seen in a bid to fill a £23 million hole in their budget for next year.

Council bosses discussed the proposed cuts with union leaders before the announced on Monday.

Unions have not ruled out industrial action and will decide their next step at the meeting in the city’s Above Bar Church.

Last year cuts imposed by the previous Conservative administration sparked mass demonstrations, see video below.

There was also industrial action by union staff, including bin men, which saw mountains of rubbish on the city’s streets for weeks.

 

Labour and the unions have blamed Government funding cuts and Conservative economic policies for the dire state of the council’s finances.

But Royston Smith the leader of the last Tory administration to run the city council claimed the current council chiefs were responsible for a “disaster” which had betrayed staff who trusted them to protect their jobs and pay.

Click here for full details of the cuts, the reaction, background and analysis