LAST week the Herald exclusively revealed that classroom assistants' salaries could be cut by 25 per cent as Gwynedd Council tries to force them on to the same contracts as other local government workers.
The move will affect around 700 staff, working in schools across the county, and will mean, a de-facto pay cut of £3,800 on average which includes the loss of six weeks paid summer leave.
The figures are eye-watering, considering the average annual salary for these workers is just £14,500.
The big unions such as Unite and Unison plan to fight this proposal which could mean a wave of industrial action forcing some schools to close from September onwards unless a compromise is reached.
The proposal has sparked fury, not just with assistants, but amongst teachers, headteachers and school governors.
Since the 60s, classroom assistants terms and conditions have been linked to those of teachers - both are contracted for 32.5 hours a week over 39 weeks per annum.
However the teachers terms and conditions are agreed nationally in Whitehall whereas the assistants are paid by local authorities.
According to Gwynedd Council the assistants terms and conditions are "unique" and need to be reviewed but staff and unions would argue that they are identical to their colleagues in the classroom - albeit that the council, as opposed to the government, pick up the tab.
The question one might ask is would the council, government, or anyone else propose this kind of settlement to teachers?
Is it the case, that with 700, relatively low paid, mainly female workers - it is a fight the council believes it can win?
The move to slash assistants' salaries is perhaps an unforeseen consequence of the UK wide equal pay review, where councils across the UK have been forced to pay out billions for the historic underpaying of, mainly female workers such as dinner ladies, cleaners and care home workers.
In Gwynedd, the council needs to make of a saving of £1m to help pay for the workers in this region who were underpaid.
Surely it is beyond irony that the council intends to plug that gap by slashing the salaries of yet another group of relatively low paid, mainly female workers - the region's classroom assistants.
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