ANGRY council and health workers will take to the streets of Southampton this week in protest at cuts to jobs and their pay.

Hundreds of union members are expected to join the demonstration against Southampton City Council plans to axe up to 250 jobs and force more than 5,500 staff to take a 5.4 per cent drop in pay.

They will march through the city centre tomorrow after a meeting of Unison and Unite trade unions to discuss the plans.

Members will be joined by around 150 cleaners from Southampton General Hospital, who are due to be staging a second walkout over conditions.

Council bosses and union representatives last week failed to reach an agreement over the plans to cut £8.4m from the authority’s wage bill for 2011/12.

The council says pay must fall to help safeguard jobs as it struggles to cope with a massive cut in central funding, and Tory leaders say they have offered several concessions.

Promises include not making any further changes to workers’ terms and conditions while they are in power and not imposing any compulsory redundancies for a year, as well as offering better payoffs for those taking voluntary redundancy.

A final proposal sent to staff asks workers to take five days of unpaid leave and a one per cent cut in their pay.

All council employees, including around 1,500 school staff, who earn more than £17,000 would also see their pay grade dropped one point.

The moves come on top of a government-imposed twoyear pay freeze for most public sector workers.

It is expected union bosses will recommend members reject the cuts. That could ultimately lead to strike action if Southampton City Council chiefs then move to sack and re-employ staff on new contracts, impose further redundancies or make additional service cuts.

Unions say workers face a 20 per cent pay cut over four years.

Unison branch secretary Mike Tucker said: “Council workers are angry that their jobs, pay and the services they provide are being hit by the budget being introduced by the Conservatives at both a national and local level.

“They do not accept that the only solutions are redundancies and pay cuts.”

Tomorrow’s rally will start at 1pm in Ogle Road and end by the Central Library entrance to the Civic Centre.