The nine Blue Badge guides who give tours of the court and cells in Dorchester, Dorset, where six labourers from the village of Tolpuddle were transported to Australia in 1834 for protesting against poor farm wages, are fighting for higher pay.
The guides have rejected West Dorset district council's "pathetic" offer of £30 for an afternoon of tours because it falls short of their demand for £50.
Alistair Chisholm, who has been giving tours for 15 years, said he and his colleagues were members of the Guild of Registered Tourist Guides which suggested a rate of around £75 for half a day's work.
"The irony of the story we tell is not lost on us and although our families are not starving as the Martyrs' families did, the council's offer is pathetic and mean-spirited given that we live in an area where house prices are massively expensive in comparison to local pay."
He added that the guides were particularly angry that the council was proposing to spend up to £15m on new offices when their pay request would cost the authority a "mere" £800 over the July-September tour guide season.
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