A union has thrown the gauntlet down to Kirklees Council over strike action by children’s services staff ... and it may mean the two sides end up clashing in court.

Unison has said its staff will walk out during the 24-hour strike due to take place from midnight on Friday, January 27.

Staff want urgent action on issues including workloads, bad management, bullying, IT systems, travel, working environments and pay.

Kirklees Council has threatened to take out a court injunction to stop the staff going on strike.

John Chapman, the council’s interim deputy head of legal services, has written a four-page letter to council union reps saying the industrial action is ‘unlawful’ – and says unless the strike is called off by 4pm today (Monday), legal steps will be taken to prevent it in court.

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But Paul Holmes said union Unison has written to Kirklees Council saying they are happy the ballot is correct.

He added: “We have taken legal advice and will be going ahead with the strike action as planned. No council in the UK has taken out an injunction in this way.

“Any High Court action will be robustly defended and we would urge the council to concentrate on the dispute rather than High Court injunctions.”

In the letter, seen by the Examiner, Mr Chapman says: “It is apparent that a very small number of Kirklees employees voted in favour of industrial action.”

Unison member Paul Holmes
Unison member Paul Holmes

Of the 75 votes cast 59 were in favour of voting ‘Yes’ while 15 voted ‘No’ and one ballot paper was spoilt.

However, the letter states Kirklees was not able to find out how many staff were balloted, what category they are and where they work – and says this means the action is unlawful.

It reads: “Any steps taken by the union or its officials to induce your members to breach their contracts of employment or to interfere in the performance of those contracts will be unlawful.”

Mr Holmes has said that if the council goes through with its threat of legal action the union would look to ballot the whole membership of 6,000 members.

The strike threat in the council’s embattled children’s services comes after its chief officer Sarah Callaghan quit just six weeks on from a damning report by watchdog Ofsted.