Workers at Birmingham City Council have signalled they could stage more strikes in their protest against wage restructuring.
More than 3,000 people, including care workers and teaching assistants, held a rally outside the main council office to voice their anger over changes to their pay.
Workers warned they are prepared to repeat their 24-hour stoppage next month against the equal pay contracts.
The battle has become entrenched with unions continuing their claim that under the proposals some staff could see their wages cut by £18,000 a year.
One employee, teaching assistant Tracey Dainter, said staff were caught in the middle of the row and were not being included in the negotiations.
She told reporters: ‘The council is so busy treating us as if we are doing a hobby instead of a profession. They need to start showing us the respect we deserve. We have been left out in the cold - we have no idea what is going on.’
Union leaders attacked the council for trying to impose a settlement and claimed the issue was purely about saving money.
‘The council wants this exercise to be cost neutral, but you simply can’t do it like that,’ said Tina Edwards, Unison organising services manager in the West Midlands. ‘By regrading its 55,000 staff into seven broad streams, the council had triggered pay cuts for 10% of staff.’
But Birmingham warned it was prepared to harden its stance and remainewd comitted to the reforms.
A council spokesman said: ‘We have been consulting with unions, not negotiating with them. We do not have to take any notice of what they say, though we are doing.’
