Union’s strike slammed by top Tory

Unison members plan to strike for five consecutive days between January 4 and 17. The union is furious with council officials over plans to make 698 redundancies by April 2014, as it aims to shed £82m from its budget.

Union bosses are also concerned over plans to take into account employees’ sickness records when considering them for other jobs within the authority.

Only 36 per cent of members voted, with 1,442 yes votes against 1,270 no votes, but Unison branch secretary Paul Holmes said strike action was ‘absolutely justified’ as staff were fearful for their jobs. He said that even on Christmas Eve they were willing to talk with the council.

“But the chief executive was away, the acting chief executive was off sick and the council’s personnel department was closed – even though for our workers, it was a normal working day – so we had no-one to hold talks with,” he said.

The planned strike has been slammed by Kirklees director Ken Gillespie.

“We are disappointed that there was a small majority of those who voted in favour of a strike, but I would stress that the ballot was called on the results of negotiations as far back as October,” he said.

“Since that time, and even during the ballot period, we have continued to work with union representatives to find a solution which is fair to employees and fair to local people. Those talks have been constructive and I am still hopeful that we can reach a solution before any strike action. In the event of any action, we are committed to maintaining essential services.”