Union leaders rubbish strike support claims (From The Northern Echo)

Union leaders rubbish strike support claims

5:06am Tuesday 15th July 2008 in News By Lauren Pyrah, Deputy Business Editor

UNION leaders have rejected employers' claims that fewer than one in four staff will take industrial action this week.

Unison and Unite said more than 50,000 local authority staff in the North-East will walk out for 48 hours from tomorrow after rejecting a 2.45 per cent wage offer.

Jan Parkinson, managing director of the Local Government Association, said fewer than a quarter of workers would take part in the strike.

She 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."

But Unison regional secretary Gill Hale said local government workers had fallen behind other public sector workers and added: "We have 50,000 members in the North-East and they have voted for this action. We are expecting a lot more than one in four workers to strike in the North-East."

Schools across the region will also be affected by the action.

In south Durham, Glenholme Leisure Complex, in Crook, and Woodhouse Close Leisure Complex, in Bishop Auckland, will close both days. Wear Valley District Council's main emergency telephone number is 01388-720588. The civic centre will provide limited services.

Sedgefield Borough Council's office in Green Lane, Spennymoor, and most other buildings will shut.

Leisure centres in Shildon and Ferryhill will be open from 8.30am to 2pm and 8.30am to 4pm respectively, but Spennymoor and Newton Aycliffe will be closed.

Refuse collections tomorrow and Thursday will be one week late.

Recycling collections are unaffected. Teesdale District Council's customer service area at Teesdale House, in Barnard Castle, will close.

Refuse and recycling collections are expected to be affected both days.

Darlington's refuse and recycling services may be affected, but residents are asked to put out their bins as normal and take them back if they are not collected.

The customer contact centre will be closed but staff will be answering calls.

Crown Street library and the Coleridge Centre library will close.

Skerne Park Children's Centre will be closed and Dodmire Children's Centre may be closed on Thursday.

On Teesside, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council's refuse collections between tomorrow and Friday will be collected two working days late.

In Hartlepool, people are urged to only contact the council by telephone in an emergency. Main council administrative buildings will be open to staff, but closed to the public.

The register office will be closed, although one booked wedding will go ahead. There will be no funerals taking place over the two days.

Refuse and recycling services may not be affected and people are advised to put bins out as normal.

Stockton Borough Council said essential services and emergency cover would be maintained, but refuse and recycling collections will be affected.

A recorded message on the council's main switchboard - 01642-393939 - will give emergency contact numbers.

North Yorkshire County Council said it was unable to predict which services would be affected until the strikes take place.

Richmondshire District Council said it was not anticipating any major disruption.

To check affected services, people are advised to visit local authority websites.