BURY is leading the way in Greater Manchester in implementing a national agreement to harmonise pay and conditons among council workers.

The agreement, which will see winners and losers, is all about being fair and providing equality in jobs where women were traditionally underpaid compared to their male counterparts.

It is believed that Bury is the first council locally to announce the changes to actual salaries although other authorities in Greater Manchester will be swiftly following suit.

Letters are going out to every member of staff affected, some 4,000 workers in 1,100 different occupations.

Appeals can be lodged by the end of September, a one-month extension on prior arrangements to accommodate annual leave.

Bury Council has pumped an additional £2.7 million into its budget to make way for the changes which will see the majority of workers either get a pay rise or no change.

The authority says 42 per cent of workers will get an increase, 28 per cent will stay the same and 30 per cent will decrease.

Staff whose salary will go down under the new pay model will receive levels of protection, from one to three years depending on the level of their financial loss.

Although the agreement was introduced by the National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Services in 1997 it has taken councils across the country until now to implement the changes which have been complicated by the details required to get it right.

The 2004 national agreement firmed up on the single status requirement and included a requirement for all local authorities to carry out a local pay review.

It is not optional as every council in the country must adhere to the conditions.

Mark Sanders, chief executive of Bury Council, said: “This is a national exercise which revalues jobs done in each council, relative to each other.

“It means that women whose worth has been traditionally been undervalued will get a boost, although other jobs will fall.

“While this is about fairness, we will make every effort to provide what support we can within the law, to those adversely affected by this re-evaluation.