Council staff strike in Berkshire

Unions have rejected what council employers say is their final offer

Council workers in Berkshire are staging the second day of a strike over pay, hitting services such as schools, libraries and rubbish collections.

At least 500,000 staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to join the second day of the 48-hour action, Unison and Unite say.

Other town hall services are also being affected by the action, which began at midnight on Wednesday.

West Berkshire is not affected because council pay is negotiated locally.

The Civic Centre in Reading will be closed throughout the action, including access to the Cash Office and Post Office.

Reading's Holybrook School and the nursery class at New Town Primary School closed on Wednesday, while Phoenix College will be closed on Thursday.

We expect it to be business as usual Alison Sanders Bracknell Forest Council Is your council hit by the strike? Send us your comments

Parents should contact schools directly for further information, Reading Borough Council said.

No rubbish collections will take place across Reading on either strike day and services will be disrupted for more than a week.

Crews will be working on Saturday, 19 July and Saturday, 26 July to "catch up with the backlog of collections".

Normal services will resume from 28 July.

Library services in the town are also likely to be affected, the council said.

The council in Slough said only a small number of services would be affected.

Its customer service centre, MyCouncil, will be running a limited reception service on both days, while the local MyCouncils at Britwell, Langley and Cippenham will be shut, it said.

Marish Children's Centre will be closed during the 48-hour period and Claycots Children's Centre will be closing early at 1615 BST.

Yvonne Harris, of Slough Borough Council, said: "We would like to stress that this is a national dispute, not a local dispute.

"However, we are part of the national collective bargaining process and members of Unison and Unite working at Slough have been asked to take part in the strike action.

"We are asking staff who intend to take strike action to co-operate with managers and make any contingency arrangements, so that services can continue to run effectively on these days."

Offer rejected

Wokingham District Council said its waste services, rubbish and recycling collections would be operating as normal.

The council said it was not aware of any school closures but advised parents to check with the school concerned.

It added the central placement team and fostering service would be partially closed.

Alison Sanders, of Bracknell Forest Council, said: "We have plans in place to make sure our services, in particular those supporting vulnerable people, continue to run smoothly and we expect it to be business as usual."

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead said they could not predict which services would be hit.

The unions are protesting at pay deals which they say are below the rate of inflation and would mean an effective pay cut for their members.

Members rejected a 2.45% pay offer and are asking for a rise of 6%, or 50p an hour.

The unions said 500,000 members walked out on the first day, but employers put the number at 100,000.