Local government union Unison responded angrily yesterday after Edinburgh City Council announced fresh plans for hundreds of job losses in a cost-cutting exercise.

Council chief executive Sue Bruce unveiled a “transformation” plan called Better Outcomes through Leaner Delivery which aims to save £138 million by 2017, by stripping out hundreds of jobs and cutting the city’s five departments to four.

But Edinburgh Unison president John Stevenson warned: “We are going to see front-line services disappearing.”

Mr Stevenson called on the council to stick to its no compulsory redundancy pledge and urged the Scottish government to intervene and ensure that local government remains viable.

“All the salami slicing has now been done,” he said.

“Reorganisations, back-office cuts that create more work and are false economies, and a wage freeze have delivered as much as they can.”

Unison Scotland argues that local councils have borne the brunt of austerity cuts with 40,000 jobs lost, while the SNP government’s council tax freeze has been in place since 2007.

Incoming First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last week committed to continue the council tax freeze until the Holyrood election in May 2016 but proposed a further review of local government funding.

“Councils like Edinburgh cannot wait for a review of funding a year down the road,” Mr Stevenson said.

“The Scottish government must step in now before local government becomes unviable.”

Edinburgh council leader Andrew Burns admitted that the plan involved “hundreds of roles” but claimed that “frontline service delivery will, if anything, be numerically enhanced.”