Council workers face industrial action ballot after pay offer rejected

Local authority workers are to be balloted for industrial action after rejecting a pay offer.

Members of Unite, employed by local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, voted by 85% against the offer which the union said was worth £1,290 plus 2.5% on allowances.

The workers include refuse collection, housing workers and care staff.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Our members undertake vital frontline roles that ensure that local communities are well maintained, safe and attractive places to live, they have drawn a line in the sand and will not accept any further erosion of their pay.”

An industrial action ballot will begin on August 30 and Unite said if there is a yes vote, strikes could begin later this autumn.

Unite said local authority workers have endured more than a decade of pay freezes and below inflation pay increases which has seen their pay decline by over a quarter in real terms.