Row over support for strike

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Unison and Unite said more than 600,000 local authority staff in England Wales and Northern Ireland, ranging from school dinner ladies and refuse collectors to librarians and social workers, will walk out for 48 hours after rejecting a 2.45% wage offer.

Tens of thousands of civil servants, including coastguards, immigration officers and driving test examiners, will also stage a series of strikes over the next 10 days in separate pay disputes.

The Local Government Association said a snapshot survey of 150 councils revealed that less than a quarter of workers would take part in the strike.

If this was replicated across the country, around 325,000 out of 1.3 million council workers affected by the dispute will be on strike, said the LGA.

The survey found that services most likely to be affected by the strike are refuse collection, schools and adult social care.

Jan Parkinson, managing director of the local government employers, said: "It is disappointing that the unions are taking council employees out on strike when only a small minority of their membership voted for industrial action. Strikes will not change the fact that our last offer was our final offer."

The employers have written to the two unions urging them to reconsider the strike and making it clear that that the 2.45% is the final offer.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, responded: "This is a prime example of wishful thinking. Instead of wasting their time with dubious snapshot surveys of HR managers, the LGA should be concentrating on getting this strike sorted out.

"We are in constant contact with our members who have voted to take action and their resolve is solid. Local government workers cannot afford to take another pay cut which is what 2.45% means. The employers are sitting on billions of pounds in bank accounts - money that our members have saved through their hard work and efficiency - which should be used to settle this dispute."