THE Government was last night facing the biggest industrial dispute since the 1926 General Strike after union leaders decided to ballot 1.5 million council workers in a row over pensions.

Eight trade unions representing workers including school dinner ladies, teaching assistants, social workers, librarians and refuse collectors are responding to planned cuts to their pension scheme.

And the Fire Brigades Union is expected to ballot firefighters for strikes next month in the same dispute.

Voting will start in the next few weeks, putting the Government on a collision course with the country's most powerful unions.

Heather Wakefield, national officer of Unison, said if the stoppage goes ahead it will be the biggest since the General Strike 80 years ago.

Dave Prentis, Unison's general secretary, said it was the biggest issue the union had faced in decades.

He said: "It affects the rights of one million of our members who have paid six per cent of their salaries into their pension scheme for decades, to save for their retirement, and are now being told the deal is off."

The Local Government Association said the union announcement was deeply disappointing, adding that council taxpayers could not afford to pay more for workers' pensions.

Talks to resolve the row have been taking place for a year, but union leaders decided yesterday that they had to threaten industrial action to break the deadlock.

Unions have complained that local authority employers wanted to cut pension rights without protecting all workers in the scheme.

Amicus general secretary Derek Simpson said: "Local government workers already have a worse scheme than other public sector workers and suffer extremely low pay, earning as little as £12,000 a year. All we are asking is for their equal treatment with other public sector groups who have had their existing pension benefits protected by the Government.