A SOLICITOR acting for council staff taking their employers to tribunal last night condemned a pay settlement.

Stefan Cross believes low-paid women have agreed a deal that is a fraction of what he could have won them in court.

His angry reaction to the announcement has sparked a war of words with Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council bosses, who called his attack scurrilous.

The Northern Echo told last week how the authority became the first in the North-East to negotiate a pay settlement with unions to achieve equal pay for female workers.

The deal, which will be followed by similar packages at town halls across the region, will benefit almost 4,000 staff and cost the council £1.8m a year, after initial payments worth £3.5m to underpaid staff.

But Mr Cross, who is representing 140 people who have rejected the offer and are taking the council to tribunal, criticised the unions because some members will have their pay cut as part of the review.

He said: "This deal is a betrayal of low-paid women workers.

"The fact that the unions are agreeing to this deal and agreeing to cuts in their members' pay rates is an absolute disgrace and is something about which they should be ashamed.

"This is a good day for the council. I urge the staff not to be fooled and claim their real rights."

Council chief executive Colin Moore said: "The council has delivered its promises to the staff and the trades unions..

"His attack on the trade unions is as scurrilous as his attack on the council.

"The trade unions have won for their members a good pay protection deal, and have minimised the proportion of people losing money beyond the national assumption of a third to a fifth."