Council staff vote on strike over pay deal

THE prospect of a summer of discontent over pay hinges on the result of a strike ballot among hundreds of thousands of council workers due to be announced today.

Members of Unison have been voting on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action after rejecting a 2.45 per cent pay offer.

More than 800,000 council workers, ranging from school dinner ladies and classroom assistants to architects and refuse collectors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, are involved in the dispute.

Unison members in Scotland are also voting on industrial action in a separate dispute over pay.

Heather Wakefield, Unison's head of local government, said this year's pay negotiations had been "dogged" by Government attempts to cap public sector pay rises to two per cent.

She said: "The offer is simply not enough to help our members cope with the huge rises in the cost of food, fuel and housing."