Power workers' strike called off

A strike by staff at a firm which supplies electricity to millions of homes has been called off.

About 1,100 staff at CE Electric were due to stage a seven-day walkout over a pay dispute.

The company is responsible for distributing electricity to more than 3.7m homes across the North East, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.

A spokesman for CE Electric said the strike had been called off while negotiations took place with unions.

Workers claim their pay has fallen behind compared with wage rates of other utilities.

The spokesman said: "CE Electric UK is still in pay negotiations with the trade unions representing its industrial staff (Unite and GMB) and whilst these negotiations continue, the unions have assured us that they will not issue the seven days' formal notice of intent to strike that would be legally required of them."