UNIONS have slammed proposed new terms and conditions for Lancashire County Council staff, branding the move ‘a cynical attack on public-sector workers’.

The changes, part of a review of 30,000 Lancashire County Council jobs, will reignite the bitter row over staff parking – which almost led to legal action in 2008.

This week a flat rate of £2.50 a day has been proposed for all staff – five times the amount currently paid by around 12,000 of the lowest-paid workers.

This is in line with the amount put forward two years ago which led to unions taking industrial action.

The protest was finally ended when bosses agreed to scale down the charges.

Unison has rejected a number of the other changes put forward this week, which include a standard 37-hour week for all workers.

Currently about 9,000 only work 36.25 hours yet are paid for the full 37.

It has also been proposed to treat Saturday as a normal working day, with no overtime payments, which would hit staff who work regular weekends and end an allowance for ‘essential car-users’.

The changes come as part of the job evaluation process, a massive regrading of 30,000 workers.

Unison representative Carol Lukey said the full impact of the new terms would not be known until next month, when staff will learn where they have been placed on the new salary scale.

She said: “It’s clear that people who do get an increase in basic pay may lose out.”

Human resources director Carol Mills said: “It is very important to see these proposals in their proper context.

“The reason the consultation is taking place is to seek to agree a new set of terms and conditions, and a pay structure.”