TENS of thousands of women who work for councils in the North-East are continuing to get a raw deal on pay, according to public sector union Unison.

The union's national secretary for local government, Heather Wakefield, was yesterday in Durham to talk to members and highlight its "Getting Equal" campaign.

Unison said the majority of local authorities in the North-East have failed to implement a national agreement, known as Single Status, to level up the pay gap between men and women.

In many cases councils have found they simply cannot afford to make up the difference and blamed a lack of funding from central government.

Merv Butler, chairman of Unison's regional local government committee, said: "More than 70 per cent of our members are women working as home carers, nursery nurse and school cooks - people who would benefit from equal pay."

He said talks would take place with council employers in a few weeks in an attempt to tackle the issue.

Unison also contributes to the Local Government Pay Commission, set up to examine pay in the sector following strike action last year by council workers.

A spokesman for Newcastle City Council said it had evaluated 5,000 of its staff under the national agreement six years ago.

It is in the process of negotiating an enhanced pay offer with staff and union representatives aimed at closing any pay disparities.