THOUSANDS of local-government workers will stage protests across Britain today voicing their dissatisfaction at to a proposed one per cent pay rise.

After three years of pay freezes, privatisation of services and tens of thousands of redundancies, council staff face yet another cut in real terms.

Public-service union Unison said a pay freeze and a below-inflation one per cent wage increase last year meant its members have endured a real-terms pay cut of 18 per cent since 2010.

The union said many of its members were being driven to using foodbanks.

Local authorities have suffered a 40 per cent budget cut under the Tories and their Liberal-Democrat collaborators.

Unison members are today staging a range of protests, including lunchtime demonstrations, and are balloting on industrial action, with strikes expected in July.

In the union’s Newcastle-based northern region, many Unison members will be wearing black at work in a symbolic protest.

Clare Williams, Unison northern regional convenor, said: “Part-time workers  — mainly women and more than half the local government workforce — have been particularly hard hit with their hourly earnings now worth the same as they were 10 years ago.

“Many low-paid part-time local-government workers need benefits and tax credits to keep their families out of poverty. It is deeply disturbing to hear the continuing stories of local government workers resorting to foodbanks.”

Unison said half the one per cent increase would be lost in tax and national insurance contributions.