COUNCIL care workers in Southampton will stage a three-day walkout in a dispute over new contracts.

About 220 mostly women care workers are striking after they were told they would be sacked if they did not accept "savage wage cuts".

About 160 Unison and 60 TGWU union members at Southampton City Council - from cooks to elderly home carers - will walkout for 72 hours on February 3.

Unison has also submitted 80 individual grievances and is taking the council to an employment tribunal, which could cost it millions in compensation.

Ten hours of talks mediated by ACAS, the government's arbitration service, failed to reach of deal over the new contracts.

The union claimed the council just repackaged £100,000 worth of savings in different ways.

It says workers will see their wages cut by between £200 and £7,000 under the council proposals.

The Daily Echo revealed in December how the council had written to the home care and elderly person workers threatening redundancies if they did not accept lower paid contracts.

The council says its care homes will remain open and most people who receive care in their homes will continue to do so.

It says the new terms and conditions will enable the city council's services to continue to be competitive.

The strike announcement comes as all union members at the council are to be balloted on industrial action over plans which could see 800 jobs going private and between 50 and 100 jobs axed to plug a £5.8m shortfall in the council's draft budget for 2007/8.

The council says it has written to people who will be directly affected by this industrial action.

A single helpline has been set up to deal with inquires from the public. It is 023 8083 4884.