Kirklees Council staff vote to strike over pay

Feb 10 2010 By Barry Gibson

COUNCIL workers have voted to strike over controversial job evaluations which have cost some of them £5,000 a year.

Up to 2,000 Kirklees Council staff are out-of-pocket as a result of the changes.

Hundreds of members of the trade union Unison have voted to take industrial action over the issue.

The union has 8,000 members working in jobs such as bin men, social workers, home carers, dinner ladies and cleaners across Kirklees.

Any strike is likely to bring similar disruption to the two-day stoppage in July 2008 when 80 schools were closed and 80,000 households missed a bin collection.

The workers voted to strike over changes in their terms and conditions known as Single Status. The controversial move has seen up to 2,000 Unison members in Kirklees lose money through cuts in bonuses and overtime.

Some workers have also been downgraded, losing up to £5,000 a year. Unison members are angry that they can no longer appeal against their losses to a three-strong panel of councillors.