VOSPER Thornycroft bosses have unveiled the relocation package they say will set them back £1.7m - but union chiefs insist it is not enough.

Hundreds of staff will walk-out tomorrow as part of an ongoing strike against the proposals offered for the move along the coast.

Talks between the unions and VT management have broken down and both parties admit they are no closer to reaching a solution.

They have clashed over working hours at the new site and when workers can finish their shifts to beat M27 rush-hour traffic back to Southampton.

VT chiefs have offered:

Payments of up to £3,400 per person for 12 months from this spring, comprising of a mileage allowance for additional miles travelled and a relocation/loyalty bonus of £200

A four-day working week, with total hours of 37 remaining the same

A four-year commitment to provide minibus travel from Southampton to Portsmouth. Each employee using them will pay just over £10 a week for it but also benefit from the full-mileage allowance for the first year

VT said it had offered a 7am-4.30pm working day, with a half-hour break, of which 15 minutes would be paid. Unions are demanding a £1,000 loyalty bonus and are calling for a 7am-4pm day, with two 20-minute breaks every day.

The company says it would mean the equivalent of a 34-hour week.

Bob Stokes, GMB regional organiser, was unavailable for comment.

The firm announced last week that up to 160 workers at the shipyard are set to be laid off because of problems securing new business ahead of the move to Portsmouth. It will build sections of the revolutionary Type-45 warships there after clinching a share of a £6 billion contract from the Ministry of Defence.

Trevor Cartwright, VT Shipbuilding HR director said: "We recognise the skills and experience of our shipbuilding workforce and hope that the majority will move with us to Portsmouth but we cannot jeopardise the profitability of our business by acceding to excessive demands."