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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All bin collections are cancelled today and tomorrow, with no plans for a catch-up collection.

However, many residents seemed unaware of this, with bins left waiting for collection as normal. More than half the grey bins on streets in Almondbury and Newsome had been taken onto the pavement for collection this morning.

Most of the town’s schools were shut and there were pickets outside Salendine Nook High School which remained open.

Union officials have warned there could be more industrial action in the autumn.

The national picture

TENS of thousands of council workers and civil servants went on strike across the country today in the biggest bout of industrial unrest for years.

The walkout over pay by members of three unions led to the closure of schools, libraries, museums and civic offices across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with bin collections cancelled.

Unison and Unite said they expected more than half a million workers to join the 48-hour walkout today and tomorrow in protest at a rejected 2.45% pay offer.

In a separate pay row, members of the Public and Commercial Services union, including driving test examiners and coastguards, will take industrial action in the next few days.

Yesterday’s increase in the Consumer Price Index to 3.8% and RPI inflation to 4.8% heightened the resolve of workers, said unions.

Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, said: “The pounds in workers’ pockets are turning to pennies.

“The cost of everyday essentials like milk, bread, petrol, gas and electricity are going through the roof – our members cannot afford to take another cut in their pay.”

Do you think the strike is the right thing to do or some other way should have been found to sort out the pay row?

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