CALLS to review the salary levels at Worcestershire County Council have been rejected - despite claims too many staff are on "cripplingly low" wages.

County Hall's Labour group says "two economies" are being created by the differences in pay between the big earners and those at the bottom of the food chain.

While chief executive Clare Marchant is on £151,000 and four directors get anywhere from £112,000 to £124,000, those on the lowest rates get less than the Living Wage of £7.85 an hour.

During a full council meeting, the Labour group called for a review of the pay levels to be conducted in-house.

Councillor Peter McDonald, Labour group leader, said people would be "astonished" to hear some county council stuff earn more than MPs.

He also said the incoming arrival of a fifth director, Sander Kristel, who will be paid £117,151, sends out the wrong message.

"With such disparities it beggars belief that this council states that it is an equal opportunities employer," he said.

"The contempt being shown towards those earning below the Living Wage is compounded by the employment of another member of staff on £117,000.

"For every one person employed on £100,000 we lose four people."

He called the current structures "absolute nonsense" and said a review of salaries was the only way of changing it.

Other Labour councillors agreed, with Councillor Graham Vickery saying the authority should "work towards a balanced structure which rewards people fairly".

But it was rejected after the Conservative leadership called his motion futile, saying the staff would be better off sticking with union-led national pay bargaining.

After two periods of strike action, the local government unions have just accepted a pay rise worth an average of 2.3 per cent in a two-year deal.

Councillor John Campion, cabinet member for transformation and commissioning, said: "While it's very easy to say 'why should anybody he paid such an amount', we are still an organisation which employs thousands of people and has a budget of millions.

"Having one chief executive and four directors is not high."

He said an internal review would "cost taxpayers more" and "not get the results intended" given that pay rises are negotiated nationally.

During a vote on the motion, Labour were defeated 11-30 after the Conservatives got support from the Liberal Democrats.

The pay rise award, which was accepted on Friday, it being backdated to April this year.

During a crippling strike in July 5,000 bins went unemptied in Worcester, 29 schools across Worcestershire were either shut or partially closed and three libraries failed to open.