Union official representing council workers held a meeting with management this week to discuss the redeployment policy Town Hall bosses are hoping to adopt as they shape up to meet a £2million budget deficit for the coming year.

Proposals include a three year sliding scale of pay protection for any employee who is redeployed and offers 100 per cent pay protection for any employee for the first year if they are redeployed and offered a job paying less; 50 per cent for the second year and 25 per cent in the third. But union leaders are far from satisfied with the proposals and have called for parity with Lancashire County Council where a 100 per cent protection package operates for three years. Union officials say the combined threat of job losses and pay cuts has left morale at all time low.

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