UNION bosses are urging hundreds of Inverclyde Council employees to reject a three per cent pay increase in support of a better deal for lower paid workers.

Officials from Unite will make the recommendation to their local government membership to refuse the revised proposal from Cosla.

The councils umbrella group made a final offer last Thursday for all workers earning up to £80,000, rather than the previous threshold of £36,500.

In Inverclyde, it would mean those on a Grade B salary would receive an extra £8.43 a week before tax, compared to £31.67 for staff on a Grade O banding.

The union will now hold a consultative ballot of affected members in the next few weeks.

Charlie Macdonald, the vice-chair of Unite Scotland's local authority committee, said: "Unite has firmly taken the decision to reject the revised offer by Cosla because in reality it actually means the lowest paid workers in local authorities across Scotland will be in an even worse situation.

"Cosla should be doing far more to address the issue of low pay not making it comparatively worse, while also addressing a fair pay award for the whole local authority workforce."

In Inverclyde, a three per cent offer for council workers on a Grade B salary of £14,604 would mean an increase of £438.

Those on band 'F' - £24,674 - would see their wage rise by £740 while staff on an 'O' banding of £54,904 would see their pay packet bolstered by £1,647.

Councillor Gail Macgregor, a COSLA spokesperson, said: "Our own research and analysis of this tells us that between the period 2010 to 2017, the lowest paid have benefitted from anywhere between 13.62 per cent and 35.73 per cent rather than the 5.6-6.6 per cent increases to the remainder of the workforce.

"Our objective is to maintain those gains for those in low pay."