UNION bosses have blasted Kirklees Council's equal pay offer as `short-changing' thousands of workers.
Union members have just dismissed the council's £13m payout offer at four meetings.
The council is offering the cash as a settlement to 3,000 people who it underpaid.
The latest offer to be dismissed is the second. The first offer of £7m was rejected earlier this year.
Paul Holmes, branch secretary of trade union Unison, which represents 1,800 of the affected workers, said members voted by two to one to reject the deal.
He added: "Many of our members have been underpaid for more than 20 years.
"The law restricts them to claiming compensation for the past six years.
"This is a one-off chance for them to get something back for everything they put in.
"The council says its current compensation offer will cost about £13m. Unison estimates that our members are probably owed in excess of £30m.
"This is not a claim. It is a back- dated payment for work already done and not properly paid for.
"While many of our members may take the money on offer we bear them no bad feelings about this.
"They have waited a long time for it.
"I am convinced that hundreds of members will want Unison to take their case to employment tribunals.
"That is their right and we will give them all the support we can.
"They have had an unquestionable right to fairness and parity.
"It is a disgrace they have had to wait so long."
