Council workers staging pay rally

Unions have rejected what council employers say is their final offer

Dozens of council staff are expected to gather for a rally on Wednesday outside a West Yorkshire town hall in support of their pay claim.

Workers who are members of the union Unison are taking their dispute to the steps of Huddersfield town hall to push for an increase in the 2.45% pay offer.

Staff at Kirklees Council, which covers Huddersfield and Dewsbury, will have shopping trolleys on show at the event.

Council employers had said they reached the "limit of what is affordable".

Rising costs

In July, thousands of council staff took strike action over pay in their biggest campaign of industrial unrest for years, forcing schools to close and hitting services.

Employers said 100,000 Unison and Unite members in England, Wales and N Ireland had joined the 48-hour action - but the unions put the figure at 500,000.

Unions had said the rising cost of food and petrol effectively makes a 2.45% pay offer a pay cut, and they wanted 6%.

Unison regional officer Tony Pearson said: "The rally is to show again that Unison members will take the necessary action to secure a fair and decent pay increase so they can meet the ever-rising cost of living."