WORKERS at a Scottish council are preparing to take industrial action in a row over claims they have been offered a 1.5% pay cut and asked to work an extra hour a week.

Unison Stirling Council Branch, along with the other trade unions at the local authority, said the action was likely to take place following a rejection of the Council's final proposals for "draconian" cuts in pay and conditions.

Branch secretary James Douglas said: "The council met us today but we are unclear why as they made it clear within a few minutes that they were not prepared to change anything."

David O'Connor, Regional Organiser for Unison, said: "What the employer is effectively proposing is a 4.5% pay cut for the majority of employees.

"The chief executive's offer for staff to work the equivalent of an extra seven days to reduce the pay cut to 1.5% does not detract from the fact the proposed cuts are nothing less than draconian."

Action could be taken by the end of the month over the offer, which Unison said actually amounted to a 4.5% pay cut.

The proposal was made despite council workers across Scotland narrowly voting to accept a 1% pay rise on Wednesday.

The Labour council needs to cut £9 million from its budget this year and £24m over the next four years.

The 3300 employees accounting for half its spending leaving man- agers facing a choice of compulsory redundancies or changing the staff's contractural terms and conditions.