The protest was held through the centre of Stafford

Hundreds of workers carried banners and chanted as they demonstrated in Stafford's Market Square on Thursday.

About a quarter of council staff face pay cuts under the plans but 45% will receive more money, the council said.

Unions have said the current proposal is "unfair and unjust". Council bosses have said they will take workers' views into account.

The council has carried out a jobs evaluation of 28,000 contracts under national guidelines.

The council has been getting a lot of feedback Jim Savege

Claire Breeze, of Unison, said at the rally: "The fact is that the authority has moved away from negotiations with the trade union.

"What we have seen today is a show of solidarity by members of trade unions and non-members of trade unions. They are fighting against the proposals that the authority has put to them because it is so unjust and it is unfair.

"The single status agreement is about equal pay for work of equal value and that is everything the trade union has attempted to achieve throughout the negotiations which have taken place for months and months."

Jim Savege, a deputy director at Staffordshire County Council, said: "The council has been getting a lot of feedback from staff so far about their views and opinion on the proposals and we are very conscious of that.

"We have been getting a lot of letters and e-mails and communications from staff and we have been looking at those already

"They will go back to council and the management team in January who will make a decision then on how to proceed based on that strength of feedback and feeling that we have heard from staff."