CHESHIRE'S classroom assistants have overwhelmingly rejected new pay and grading proposals and are now preparing for county-wide strike action.

Hundreds of assistants employed in the county's schools voted in a secret ballot to reject the proposals offered under a county council Single Status pay review.

About 1,900 teaching assistants - currently earning less than £14,000, and already viewed as significantly underpaid - face cuts of over £2,000 per year. Many professional staff face pay cuts of nearly £6,000 per year

For example, classroom assistants currently receive salaries in a series of scales, Scale 15 being the highest (£13,000+) and Scale 4 the lowest (£10,278), based on their experience and years of service.

But under Single Status, county council chiefs aim to change how classroom assistants are paid.

Most classroom assistants currently work 32.5 hours a week, are classed as full-time and are paid for 52 weeks of the year. But under the new deal, assistants say they will be classed as part-time and will be paid for 45.6 weeks of the year if they have worked for five years or more, or 44.5 weeks for five years or less.

Classroom assistants say being classed as part-time will affect their pension rates and cost them £2,000 a year.

Following lengthy negotiations around local implementation of the national Single Status agreement, the council came up with proposals for a 'pay-line', which they say is all they can afford.

While this benefits many low paid women workers - something Unison welcomes - it leaves thousands of staff facing major pay cuts.

Unison, the main trade union in the county council, viewed the proposals as completely unacceptable, and said the council needed to put in much more money to resolve longstanding issues of sex discrimination in the grading structure. The union's stance has now been massively supported by its members, in a secret postal ballot.

With a 61% turnout, the 88% vote for rejection represents an absolute majority of union members saying no to these proposals.

Unions will be meeting with personnel managers today, and hope to hear that the council is willing to negotiate seriously to achieve an acceptable grading structure.

However, Unison is clear that if staff such as classroom assistants are not to face a pay cut, much more money will have to be put into the deal.

Commenting on the outcome of the ballot, Cheshire-branch service conditions officer, Ray McHale, said: 'This is a decisive result, which can leave the council with no doubt about how our members feel about their proposals.'