UNION bosses have condemned a fresh proposal for council staff in Southampton to take five days unpaid leave to help slice 5.4 per cent off the authority’s wage bill.

All staff would also see their pay grades moved back one point and have their pay cut by a further one per cent.

Tory council leaders had previously proposed cutting the working week by two hours to make nearly £9m of savings to meet drastic Government funding cuts.

Up to 250 council posts will be axed next year in addition to the pay cuts.

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New chief executive Alistair Neill threatened at least 400 more posts would have to be cut over two years without the changes to pay and conditions.

The council’s Unite convenor Mark Wood: “The proposals as they stand are in my view worse than the original. The council has misunderstood the representations of unions and its members by thinking the revised proposals with additional unpaid leave as opposed to reduced working hours would be more acceptable.”

Unison branch secretary Mike Tucker added: “The feedback we’ve received in general is hostile to what the council is proposing.”

He said talks with both unions would continue up until a joint members meeting later this month when a ballot for strike action could be called for.

National union leaders have predicted a surge in strike action for 2011 on a scale not seen since the campaign to abolish the poll tax.

Mr Tucker added the council has failed to offer any guarantees that the changes to terms and conditions would only apply for 12 months or agree to scrap an “unfair” £1m council tax discount for pensioners to help save jobs and services.

If no agreement is reached, unions say council leaders would have to take the extreme measure of sacking all staff and re-employ them on reduced contracts.

The proposals, which would apply equally from chief officers down, were unveiled in a letter to staff by Mr Neill.

They follow consultation with line managers who felt they would cause less disruption to the working week.

It comes as finance bosses admitted Southampton City Council’s budget faces a shortfall £5m more than the £20m expected.

City Council leader Royston Smith said the council’s proposals were “really tough” but would safeguard frontline services although he has admitted some services will have to be cut.