Kirklees Unison calls off five-day council workers’ strike following jobs deal

TRADE union stewards have called off a five-day strike that could have brought widespread disruption to Huddersfield.

Unison had voted to take industrial action this month to oppose compulsory redundancies at Kirklees Council. The strike would probably have led to school closures and missed bin collections.

But yesterday Unison called off the industrial action after the council promised there would be no compulsory redundancies before April 1.

Eighty-five union stewards voted unanimously to cancel the strike at a meeting at the Methodist Mission yesterday afternoon.

Kirklees Unison branch secretary Paul Holmes said: “I think it’s a good day for our members and a good day for the people of Kirklees.”

The dispute revolves around the council’s plan to reduce its non-school workforce from 11,200 to 9,500 to cope with an £80m budget cut in the next four years.