EIGHT hundred staff at Dorset County Council could have their pay slashed to prevent a massive wages bill.

The staff's own union Unison is being accused of pushing for the pay cut, a move the union strongly rejects.

And thousands more staff at neighbouring authorities are waiting to see whether they will also lose money.

In 2004, Dorset County Council re-graded salaries and came to an agreement with trade unions GMB, Unite and Unison.

Those whose pay grades were reduced were given permanent "payment protection", keeping their wages artificially high.

The unions at that time agreed they would not seek out or support equal pay claims arising from the agreement.

But Dorset County Council says Unison is now encouraging staff to make equal pay claims, so staff doing a similar job to someone else on a higher protected grade could claim they should be paid the same.

Cllr Alan Havelock, cabinet member for corporate resources at the county council, said: "This latest move by Unison has placed us and our staff in a very difficult position, which I very much regret."

Council leader Cllr Angus Campbell said: "I am hugely disappointed by Unison.

"Our staff work extremely hard and the agreement retained their level of pay while doing the same job."

Unison regional secretary Ian Ducat said the county council's accusation was an "abdication of responsibility", adding two recent appeals involving equal pay had thrown a previously accepted compromise involving payment protection back to the floor.

"The appeal tribunal said protection was perpetuating the disadvantage that women were suffering. We have been trying to assimilate constructively."

"It makes me angry the council is not dealing with this responsibly and saying we are in this together.

"Some of our staff will be angered. We have a duty to explain to them this is not of our making."

Bournemouth is in the process of a pay and grading review. More than 1,500 job titles and nearly 6,000 employees have been assessed.

The borough says where jobs are graded at a lower salary than an employee is on, pay will be protected for three years.

At North Dorset District Council, staff whose roles have been graded lower than their salary have been given payment protection for three years, not the life of their jobs.

Poole is in advanced stages of an equal pay review.