Union officials want a lifetime guarantee that top officers will keep their substantial salaries if they move into lower-paid jobs as a result of a radical council shake-up.

It could mean officers paid up to £80,000 would get the same pay throughout their working lives. Chief Executive Ian Stewart told the Council's Executive Committee of the request as he reported on negotiations with Unison about the shake-up.

The proposals would slash the top posts from 33 to 23 and all the new posts would be advertised nationally. The Council says it cannot guarantee there will be no compulsory redundancies.

Mr Stewart also said the existing Information Technology services were in a bigger mess than he had ever seen during his 30-year career in management.

He pointed out that there were at least 11 different word-processing systems, virtually none of which was compatible. There was inefficiency in the authority and poor ways of working, leaving it open to fraud. He added there was good practice, however, and people who were doing a tremendous job. The committee agreed the restructure proposals.

A formal 30-day consultation process with the unions and officers began today and the Council will ask for people interested in leaving voluntarily. But Unison regional officer Alan Hughes said: "We will almost certainly declare a dispute. At present we are not co-operating with it."

The union believed the Council should have introduced the new structure with existing officers then advertised the jobs if people were not right.

An official dispute would mean negotiations within the Joint National Council for Chief Officers, which has representatives from both unions and management. Mr Stewart said negotiations were continuing with unions. But he added the lifetime salary protection could lead to an officer on a salary of up to £80,000 keeping his pay even if he moved to a £40,000 job. He added: "Some officers are not looking forward to further change and unfamiliarity with the new structure.''

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.