Council Workers Stage Second Day Of Protest

Council workers are staging their second day of strike action in a row over pay.

The action will affect libraries, schools and rubbish collections.

Unions Unite and Unison say they expect 500,00 staff to walk out in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The unions are asking for a 6% pay increase. However, the employers' pay offer had been 2.45% which the unions said was "effectively a wage cut".

The employers say that they cannot afford anymore.

Jan Parkinson, a spokesman for the employers said "these strikes will not change the fact that our last offer was our final offer".

"It is disappointing that the unions are taking staff out on strike when only 7% of them voted for industrial action. Council workers will lose two days' pay and many of them can ill-afford this.

"The settlement on the table is affordable to the council tax payer and will also make sure local government continues to be an attractive place to work.

"It would be irresponsible of councils to dip their emergency reserves just when the economic downturn is starting to bite."

Peter Allenson, lead local government negotiator for Unite said the threat of future strike action "remained very real".

"Judging by the tremendous turnout on picket lines across the country, this is a fight that these workers will take all the way and rest assured that their union will be backing them.

"But this dispute could easily be resolved. Billions of pounds of local government money are sitting in banks, piling up interest. It needs only a fraction of this money to meet this wage claim and lift local government workers out of poverty pay," he said.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is taking action alongside Unison and Unite.

PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: "This will prove to be a determined week of solidarity among public sector workers facing a brutal attack on their living standards from a government desperate to cling to a widely discredited pay policy.

"With food and energy prices rising even faster than inflation, millions of workers are struggling more than ever to pay their bills. The government has lost all credibility in its attempts to portray low-paid public servants as the causes of inflation, rather than its victims."

Hundreds of workers have taken part in protest marches in cities including Bristol and Newcastle.

While workers in Scotland are not on strike, the Scottish secretary of Unison, Matt Smith says "a walkout was planned" unless council agreed to renegotiate their pay offer.

(DS/JM)