I am a council employee and the work we do is very stressful most of the time. We have to work extremely hard to deliver the inadequate services still available to very vulnerable people.

Under job evaluation, it was proposed to cut our salary by £4,000 pa. Higher management received considerable increases. Research shows we are grossly underpaid in this area compared with the rest of the region - how can this be justified?

We are told we have to sign a new contract agreeing to a cut in wages otherwise we will be unable to appeal against the detail of the evaluation that is totally unfair and wrong. If we do not sign to accept the new contract we will be issued with dismissal notice. How can this be right? Where are our human rights? What happened to decency and valuing individuals?

I feel de-motivated, under-valued and exploited. I have no prospects of being paid a fair wage and I know that given the current maladministration the workload can only increase - I am not alone. The research shows that we are underpaid now - in future we will be even more underpaid. How can this council claim that this has not been a cost cutting exercise?

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