Council staff working to rule in a dispute over slashed redundancy packages sought reassurances over library service jobs and invited council chiefs to return to the negotiating table as they lobbied a meeting of councillors yesterday.

Hundreds of members of public sector union, Unison, working for Somerset County Council, began a work to rule last week over the council’s decision to lower redundancy settlement to the statutory minimum.

The action falls short of a strike and does not involve school staff.

Councillors arriving for a council meeting at County Hall, Taunton, were met by union members carrying banners yesterday.

The Conservative-controlled council has shed jobs and cut £34million from its budget following the harshest Government financial settlement for a generation.

Unison believes that at the same time the council’s reserves have grown.

Nigel Behn, Unison branch secretary of Somerset County Council, asked councillors for a statement on the amount of its reserves.

Mr Behn also asked for reassurances that volunteers being called in to help at some libraries would not be doing work properly carried out by professional library staff.

He also asked for reassurances that members working for South West One, the public-private partnership providing backroom services to the council, which is now under review, would be safeguarded.

The council promised written answers.