‘PLEASE don’t betray us’ - that was the message from care workers protesting on the steps of County Hall against proposed wages cuts, which could see them lose up to £2,600 a year.

Tricuro, the county council’s care company, plans to cut the wages of low–paid staff who work weekends and public holidays, despite assurances there would be no change to their terms and conditions for five years.

Proposals say staff working weekends will receive a pay cut from time and a half to time and a quarter and bank holiday pay will be cut from triple to double time on five of the eight bank holidays.

Unison says that the changes, a result of a £1.3m deficit, will affect 400 workers.

Speaking at the protest on Thursday, UNISON Dorset County Council assistant branch secretary Ken Attwooll said: “Tricuro found itself in a cash flow problem and asked the management how they should address it. The response was that the best way would be to cut the pay of frontline staff.

“Originally it was proposed staff pay at weekends and on holiday would be cut from time and a half to time plus a £1 an hour. Now it has been proposed to change that to time and a quarter, which we say demonstrates they have some flexibility in their budget.

“The people who fund Tricuro need to take responsibility. It launched on July 1, 2015, and by November, after months of assurance that everything was going to be fine for five years, they find themselves in serious trouble.”

In October staff were given eight days to sign a voluntary agreement to the changes or it would be ‘necessary to move to a formal process of dismissal’. Management were due to issue dismissal notices on October 31.

A release from Unison states: “Rail-roading frightened staff, against their will, into signing letters to accept a pay cut by threatening with outright dismissal is unethical.”

An assistant cook working Saturdays stands to lose up to £666 a year, a care assistant up to £836 a year, night staff working a double shift on weekends stand to lose as much as £2,600 a year and a care and community services officer working a double shift at the weekend stands to lose up to between £1,600 and £2,000 a year.

UNISON has declared a collective dispute which has been accepted by Tricuro. Tricuro has stepped back from issuing dismissal letters and agreed to ask ACAS to assist.