A NATIONAL union leader has called on a Government minister to stop Southampton council leaders slashing staff pay by 5.4 per cent and axing up to 250 jobs.

Tory council bosses said 400 more jobs would have to go over the next two years without with mass pay cut as they struggle to plug a record budget black hole.

The pay cut will apply to everyone from chief officers and councillors to carers and road sweepers.

GMB national secretary Brian Strutton said the cuts were “totally outrageous” and a “bolt out of the blue” for staff.

“These council pay cuts are unjustified and plain wrong and they are on top of huge job losses,” he said.

Mr Strutton said he had written to Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, calling on him step in.

Trade union Unite, which has about 700 members employed by Southampton City Council, said it was “disgusted” by the announcement.

Regional officer Matt Tipper said: “The viciousness of these cuts is staggering. We believe the attack on the most vulnerable in society and lowest paid, predominantly women workers within the council is unacceptable.”

Meanwhile, around the country the scale of the effect on councils of the Government’s 28 per cent funding cut has become clear with a GMB report that almost 30,000 council jobs have been threatened in recent weeks.

Councils in Rochdale, Barnsley and Gloucester have announced similar pay cuts to Southampton.

Officials from Unison, the largest union at the council with around 1,800 members, will have crisis talks with Southampton council leader Royston Smith and new chief executive Alistair Neill on Monday. A meeting has been called for Unison members on November 24 where industrial action will be considered.

Under the council’s proposals, all 4,180 non-teaching council staff face a pay cut averaging 5.4 per cent.

A consultation on changing staff terms and conditions to reduce the working week by two hours began on Thursday.

The council’s 31 chief officers have been told their salaries will be slashed and they must take five days unpaid holiday. Mileage rates will also be cut and a car lease scheme scrapped to save another £500,000. Non-statutory sick pay will be cut to three days without a doctor’s note.

The council forecasts it needs to save £62m over the next four years to balance its books. The pay cuts will help save £8.6m of the £20m savings pencilled in for next year.