Councillors back equal pay deal

The proposed council deal will be put to unions

Aberdeen councillors have backed a proposed equal pay deal for staff.

The council will outline to unions on Tuesday how it intends to resolve the near decade-long row after a £10m plan was agreed.

Officials have been struggling to implement legislation that gives staff doing the same job the same amount of money.

The issue has taken the local authority to the brink of strike action in the past.

A special full council meeting on Monday voted 37 to two in favour of the proposed deal.

The package will now go back to the unions for their final approval and letters will go out to the affected staff members at the end of the month specifying their individual pay grades.

The payments are aimed at compensating low-paid, mainly female, staff by bringing their jobs into line with work of equal value, often done by men.