Shutdown as strike bites

Jul 16 2008 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

SHUTDOWN!

HUDDERSFIELD was badly hit today by the council workers’ strike.

Schools were closed and bins left unemptied on the street this morning as thousands of council staff began a two-day strike.

Local government workers – including home carers, bin men and dinner ladies – are taking industrial action today and tomorrow in protest against a 2.45% pay offer.

Kirklees has been particularly hard hit by the strike with 80 schools closed this morning – almost as many as the rest of West Yorkshire put together.

Pickets from the union Unison were out early this morning in Huddersfield town centre.

Around a dozen union activists were outside Oldgate House from 7am.

Shop steward Graham Paisley said the action was going well.

He said: “About 10 people have gone in to the building in the first 45 minutes but they’ve all been either managers or non-Unison members. None of our members have gone in.

“The mood here is one of grim determination. We don’t want to be tied into a three-year pay deal at 2.45% with the way inflation is going at the moment.”

Pickets were also outside Civic Centre I this morning and at Perseverance House in St Andrew’s Road, headquarters of Kirklees Neighbourhood Housing. Huddersfield Town Hall and Huddersfield Library were closed.

Queensgate Market, which is owned by Kirklees, was also shut.

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