UNION bosses representing workers at a job-shedding North-East drugs plant are angry at news that the company's chief executive was awarded a £6m pay package.

The news will come as a bitter pill for employees at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in Barnard Castle, County Durham, where 400 jobs are to go during the next two years.

The job cuts came as a massive blow to the Teesdale area, where GSK has been the biggest employer for the past 30 years.

The multi-national pharmaceutical company's chief executive, Jean-Pierre Garnier, was handed a pay package of £3.5m last year, with a "golden handcuff" bonus of £2.4m.

The retainer bonus will be handed to Dr Garnier during the next three years, which GSK said had been awarded to him for "extraordinary effort" overseeing last year's merger between Glaxo Wellcome and Smith- Kline Beecham, to form GSK.

In addition to his annual package, Dr Garnier was awarded 140,000 American depository shares, currently worth £4.6m, under a performance share plan.

The news has angered union bosses. A spokesman for the Manufacturing Science and Finance Union, said: "This will rub salt into the wounds of staff at the plant who are facing redundancy.

"It has been a very tough time for staff at GSK, and has hit Teesdale hard, but to hear that their boss is being given a massive pay package will grate badly."

However, the company has defended its decision to award Dr Garnier such a generous pay award.

A spokesman said: "It is in recognition of the successful merger of the two companies, for doing it without losing business momentum and it is a retention tool."