Union leaders have attacked the Welsh Assembly for boosting councillors' allowances - just hours after council workers staged a mass strike.

Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers went on strike on Wednesday for the first time since 1979.

Thousands of pupils had the day off

Assembly Members have backed new measures to update councillors' allowances - which could see them take home as much as �41,000.

The rise would bring the politicians in line with their colleagues in the assembly.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said it was ludicrous that some councillors could now pocket three times as much as most local government workers.

Under the new scheme, the leader of an average-sized authority working full-time as a council leader can be paid the same as an AM.

Annual salaries

The basic allowance for councillors across Wales is recommended to be �9,907 - equal to the annual salaries of hundreds of thousands of dinner ladies, teaching assistants and other education staff.

The allowances were three times the average salary of more than half the1.3m-strong government workforce.

"This is ludicrous and it is frankly insulting," he added.

Former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies said it was insensitive to make the decision the day after so many workers had been forced to strike.

Rewarded

Mr Davies - a Unison member - gave his backing to the protest and called for staff to be properly rewarded.

But he said he supported the new allowances, saying councillors had to be properly rewarded for their "thankless" work.

"But let's not forget that the decisions that are taken by our local councillors are given effect by the men and women who work for our local councils," he said.

"I fully support the action that was taken yesterday by people representing some of the lowest paid workers in this land.

"Balanced approach"

"If we are to see the sort of democracy that we want and the sort of quality of public services that we want in this country we are only going to get it if people who work for our local authorities are properly paid, trained, qualified and motivated.

"We must have a completely balanced approach to the provision of public services.

"Local councillors should be properly rewarded and so should the people who work for our local councils."

The new scheme was recommended by an independent report commissioned by Welsh Finance Minister Edwina Hart.

Defended

Mrs Hart commended the findings of the report and proposed recommending local authorities adopt the figures as maximum rates.

She defended the new scheme, saying people would not enter local government unless councillors were properly rewarded for their work.

"Let me be clear, councillors commit themselves to long hours serving their communities," she said.

"The report found that on average councillors spend on average about 70 hours a month on council duty."

In 2000, Cardiff County Council came under fire after the Labour group recommended their leader's annual allowance should rise to nearly �59,000 - an increase of around �24,000.

It was agreed that councillor Russell Goodway would receive �49,122 for his role as leader of the council plus an extra �9,732 because he is Lord Mayor - making a total of �58,854.

He defended his decision to take increased allowances and said they were in line with an assembly-commissioned report.

Mr Goodway said he was already waiving part of his allowance, that he was entitled to about �79,000 and for the past three years he had never taken the full amount.