High earners in the public sector should not receive bonuses in order to support public spending say union bosses.
Around 400 delegates from Unison, Scotland's largest public services union, attended a meeting at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall on Saturday in protest over an estimated £300 million in cuts, which could lead to 3000 local authority job losses.
The union's general secretary David Prentis said cuts in public spending could even plunge the economy back into recession.
He wants the UK government to "call time" on financiers who argue that public spending is not sustainable while they take multi-million pound bonuses.
"No nurse got a million pound bonus for gambling other people's money," said Mr Prentis.
"No school cleaner gambled billions on the stock exchange. None of our members created this recession. Why should they be expected to pay for the recovery?"
The union said it established the estimated cash and job cuts from councils across Scotland.
A spokesman added: "In most councils we have headline figures but we don't as yet know exactly where the axe is going to fall.
"Some will slice across the board, some will target specific groups."
The rally marked the start of Unison's public works anti-cuts campaign.
Speaking at the meeting Mr Prentis also accused all political parties of having ‘macho politics’ and urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to copy US President Barack Obama and stand up to bankers.
He added: "Spending on public services makes sense if you are trying to grow the economy. For every pound spent on public services, 64 pence goes back into the local economy.
"Lets hear more about pay freezes for bankers. Lets hear Gordon calling for every last dime to be paid back to the taxpayer."
Unison is to embark on a major campaign, including a rally in the spring, to highlight the issue of public service cuts before the general election.
