Council staff agree strike dates

Up to 600,000 council workers may join the strike

Council workers are to strike on 16 and 17 July in a row over pay, union negotiators have said.

Members of Unison in England, Wales and Northern Ireland voted to strike by 55%. They rejected a 2.45% pay offer.

General Secretary Dave Prentis said his members were "fed up and angry" about pay cuts while prices kept rising.

Almost 600,000 workers were balloted, including school dinner staff, refuse collectors and classroom assistants.

Social workers, housing benefit staff, cooks, cleaners, architects and traffic wardens are also expected to take part in the walkout.

'Serious implications'

Unison says 250,000 council workers earn less than £6.50 an hour - most of them women - and will not accept below-inflation pay rises.

They want a 6% pay rise - or an extra 50p an hour, whichever is higher. But local government employers say only 27% of union members voted - so only 13% overall back the strike.

When Unison asks its members to strike they generally do Heather Wakefield Unison's head of local government

Brian Baldwin, of the local government employers' negotiators, called on Unison to think twice about going on strike.

He said: "Any strike action Unions calls could have serious implications for some of the most vulnerable people in society and would not change the fact that our last offer was our final offer."

He said any higher pay settlement would force councils to make "unpalatable choices between cutting front-line services and laying off staff".

But Heather Wakefield, Unison's head of local government, told the BBC that going on strike was not the union's preferred choice and they hoped the employers would return to negotiations before it happened.

But she told the BBC she was "optimistic" that most of the 600,000 members would join the strike - including council staff and those working on contracts for local authorities.

"When Unison asks its members to strike they generally do and of course that will unfortunately have a major impact on local services," she said.

"A whole range of jobs across local government" would be affected, she said, from bin collection, home help and residential care to school meals, environmental health and housing officers.

Meanwhile Jobcentre and benefit office staff and other civil servants may take industrial action later this year in a separate row.

Probation officers, Ofsted inspectors, meat and hygiene inspectors and further education staff are also in dispute over pay.