Furious protesters portrayed Copeland mayor Mike Starkie as Ebenezer Scrooge in a show of support for council staff potentially facing the axe.

Copeland Council's controversial shake-up could see up to 28 people leave their roles and unhappy union representatives are threatening strike action.

The Unison union held a Dickensian-themed demonstration today (Thursday) to protest against what it sees as double standards from Mr Starkie regarding his own wage.

However, the mayor – who on £50,000 a year is the lowest-paid of 16 elected mayors across the country – said his primary aim is to ensure the council "remains financially viable", and without the review, the potential impact would have been "catastrophic".

He added there will be "less than five" compulsory redundancies in the restructure that will save more than £400,000 a year, and added Unison has "kept itself in the dark" during the process and "made no alternative suggestions".

The roles under threat in a shake-up of support staff that was agreed earlier this month include customer service officers, revenue processing officers and benefits assessment officers.

Union representatives and members of the public stood in solidarity with staff outside Copeland Council's Whitehaven Market Hall base, dressed in Dickensian costumes and held placards.

"Council staff have had their pay rises capped at one per cent but, in stark contrast, Mr Starkie has seen his pay go up by 67 per cent this year," said Unison's regional organiser Jenny Martin.

"Staff are so frustrated that there is a real chance of strike action before Christmas. In the Christmas Carol theme, we hope that the mayor might see sense – just as Scrooge did.

"The mayor will have lots of money for his Christmas dinner this year, while a lot of the staff are on redundancy notices.

"The staff are supportive and some will be joining us on their lunch break. We'd like the mayor to return to the table and talk to us. We think 20 job losses is too harsh and would like to see more funding for frontline services."

But Mr Starkie criticised Unison for the way it has dealt with the situation and said he believes the union has a "lack of understanding".

He said: "We offered the three unions – Unite, GMB and Unison – a briefing to give them a better understanding of the process and Unison didn't turn up.

"We offered Jenny Martin a personal briefing and she declined. Unite and GMB have decided to take no action and are working with us.

"Until August, Unison hadn't been seen in the council for four years, it turned up four weeks after the consultation started and resulted in us extending the consultation causing additional costs to the council and further angst among staff.

"Only today, we met with council management and the trade unions and once again it was attended by Unite and GMB while Unison were absent without explanation. It is clearly not the action of people wanting to engage.

"My biggest achievement would be organising ourselves so, after my time, the council is a going concern."