Equal pay staff 'face wage cuts'

There are fears more than 1,400 workers could face a salary cut at Newcastle City Council as part of an equal pay agreement.

Public sector union, Unison, has warned there could be "confrontation" with the authority after being alerted to information from a leaked report.

More than 5,000 workers are likely to receive backdated pay rises totalling about £24m.

Council bosses said they had already taken steps to cover the wage rises.

Union chiefs suggest 700 workers could face pay cuts of more than £2,500 a year.

The introduction of equal pay should not mean pay cuts Kenny Ball, Unison

The back pay relates to a national single status agreement made in 1997 which aimed to end the gap between the pay of men and women in council jobs which were either identical or required the same level of expertise.

Paul Woods, the city council's director of resources, said: "We have been working hard to make the council more efficient.

"As long as this package is negotiated as set out it's in line with the budget.

"There will be no obvious impact on services or council tax, but it doesn't take a genius to work out that if this cost wasn't there we would have been able to spend those resources on services, which we can't."

Kenny Bell, UNISON branch secretary for Newcastle City Council, said: "The introduction of equal pay should not mean pay cuts.

"Whilst we are obviously pleased that more than 5,300 workers could get a pay increase we will be mounting a major campaign to ensure we get the pay increase many workers deserve but also to ensure no one suffers a pay cut."

Unison bosses said they had not yet seen the report and had called for an investigation into how the proposals were leaked before any discussions had taken place.