COUNCIL chiefs have today issued a third and final offer to cut the pay of thousands of council staff in Southampton.

A plan to introduce a 5.4 per cent pay cut has been scrapped after nearly 1,000 members of the Unison and Unite unions marched through the street in protest.

Ruling Conservative councillors now want staff earning more than £17,000 a year to take pay cuts of between 2 per cent and 5.5 per cent, with the higher paid hit the hardest.

And those earning more than £22,000 will get five days extra holiday in a bid to sweeten the deal.

The council had previously asked all staff to take five days unpaid leave to help cut the wage bill.

The latest pay package comes on top of a two year Government imposed pay freeze from April for public sector workers earning over £21,000.

There will also be a reduction in car allowances and mileage rates to 40p and more than 200 jobs will be axed.

Unions wanted council chiefs to agree to no compulsory redundancies, that the cuts would only apply for one year, and to scrap an “unfair” council tax discount for pensioners.

The council said the savings will protect an additional 400 council jobs from being lost, and the services those people provide.

The council’s Unison branch secretary, Mike Tucker, said: “The council’s new proposals will cut the wages and working conditions for the majority of council workers.

“The Conservatives in Southampton are following the policy of the Conservatives in Government of passing on the cost of the bankers crisis to ordinary workers. “Southampton Council workers will not pay for the bankers greed, nor the economic policies of the Government which are leading Britain into new recession.”

Council leader Royton Smith said: “In an ideal world I would not be asking any staff to take a wage reduction. However this is the only way of protecting 400 jobs at the council from being lost and the services those people provide to our residents.

He added: “The biggest impact will be on those earning the most. Those earning more than £65,000 will take the biggest percentage drop in their wages.

“We will protect those on the lowest salaries from having to take any reduction in wages.”