UNIONS have warned that council workers will have their current contracts terminated if a deal is not reached on pay freezes.

Greenwich Council has issued a Section 188 notice as part of its consultation on a four-year freeze on annual automatic pay increases.

And, despite claims by Deputy Leader Councillor Peter Brooks that a decision has not yet been made, the consultation document says the pay freeze would go ahead with or without union agreement.

If no deal is reached after three months of consultation current contracts will be terminated and workers will be offered new ones which freeze the pay increments.

Greenwich Council says the freeze, which affects 2,201 current workers who are not yet at the top of their pay grade, will save £2.4m - enough for 77 front line jobs.

But unions have reacted angrily to the proposals with Unison regional organiser Dan Peppiatt saying he was “astonished” by the announcement.

He said: “We are demanding that the proposal be withdrawn and that the formal notices be rescinded.

“The matter has been badly handled and will cause worry and concern to hard working council staff already fearing the impact on their jobs of massive cuts in funding.”

Mr Peppiatt added: “Before attacking the lowest paid the council should be cutting unnecessary waste and expenditure within the borough.

“To start with they could stop hiring expensive consultants and look at reviewing the pay and grading of the senior management many of whom are on salaries well over a £100,000 a year.”

Paul Callanan from the Greenwich Save Our Services group said: “They have threatened to make everyone redundant and then just impose this anyway.

“This will have a huge impact on workers. It’s something that’s in their contracts and the council has no right to change that.”

Greenwich Council's consultation document says the Section 188 has been issued " purely as a precautionary measure and to ensure we cover the correct statutory requirements for consultation."

The consultation on the proposal ends on January 5 next year and the new conditions would come into effect on April 1.