Planned job losses at Ulster University will strip millions of pounds from the north-west economy and leave City Deal-funded buildings empty, trade unions told a special meeting of Derry City and Strabane District Council on Tuesday.

Paddy Mackel, from the University and College Union, said the university's decision to cut 450 posts was premature, opportunistic and short-sighted. He added that politicians had been largely silent since the announcement, whereas similar losses in another industry would have prompted immediate demands for action.

An official from Unite the Union said about 100 jobs would go at the Magee campus in Derry, removing £5 million in salaries from the local economy. The knock-on effects would hit local suppliers, reduce the number of graduates staying in the area, and damage business creation, the union said.

Mr Mackel warned that the job cuts would undermine the target of 10,000 students at Magee. He said more students could not be taught with fewer staff, and that City Deal-funded buildings risked being left unused without the staff to work in them.

Of the 450 posts, 324 are expected to come from UCU-linked grades, a significant proportion of which are lecturing posts. The union said redundancies on that scale would affect course availability, location choice, student experience and staff wellbeing.

The unions also criticised the removal of a 50p-an-hour top-up for the lowest-paid workers, costing them about £900 a year. Danielle McCusker of Unison said the university had told her union that forgoing a pay rise for the highest earners would save only £150,000, the same figure saved by cutting the low-pay top-up. She said the university had its priorities wrong and alternatives should be explored before any jobs are lost.

Concerns were raised about language used by university management, including references to "working with the willing" and a plan to run with a constant vacancy rate of at least 8 per cent, adding roughly 250 posts on top of the 450. Mr Mackel said no discussions had been held with unions about the vice chancellor's mention of "new ways of working" and "bigger class sizes".

Councillors agreed to write to Ulster University vice chancellor Paul Bartholomew, urging him to reinstate the 50p top-up for low-paid workers. They also asked Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald to provide funding for the multi-campus model and agreed to write to Secretary of State Chris Bryant, requesting an urgent meeting and clarification on how the Magee expansion would proceed as planned. A separate proposal to ask the university to outline its five-year business plan after the staff reductions also passed.

During the meeting, reference was made to UU reserves of £70m. The original motion, proposed by People Before Profit councillor Shaun Harkin, passed without dissent after an amended version fell.