Valentine’s Day two-hour strike looms for Cheshire West and Chester Council

Feb 4 2012 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

CHESHIRE West and Chester Council looks set to be hit by a two hour strike on Valentine's Day.

Staff from all three unions - Unison, GMB and UNITE - have voted to back a programme of industrial action over the authority's imposition of new contracts.

Tory council leaders say the changes are necessary to equalise terms and conditions between employees of the four legacy authorities which were replaced by CWaC in 2009.

But the unions say the move represents a deterioration in their members' contracts which will be challenged with a two hour stoppage, probably on February 14.

Union leaders will then look at a number of on-going measures such as overtime bans, a work to rule and the withdrawal of personal cars. Š

This will be followed by a series of selective strikes by staff most affected by cuts to their enhancements such as care workers, library staff plus residential staff in schools, children's homes and care homes. Š

These actions will probably be targeted at weekend and bank holiday working.

Ray McHale, assistant branch secretary of West Cheshire Unison, said: "Our aim will be to disrupt the work of the council and to force councillors to talk to us about a settlement."

He added: "By Monday afternoon we should have started to notify the council of the action we are planning to take."

Mr McHale said support was being sought from the union both regionally and nationally. "We intend to launch a fighting fund so that we have extra money to support staff taking action - especially if they face hardship. We already have a substantial hardship fund," he added.

The authority claims 96% of the workforce has signed up to the new contracts which will save £3.9m a year for reinvestment into front-line services. Those who do not accept the changes will be dismissed and rehired under the new terms.