HALTON'S public sector will grind to a halt on March 23 as Halton Borough Council employees strike over the age of retirement.

An overwhelming 75% of local government workers voted in favour of the one-day walkout in a recent Unison vote. Unison represents many of the Halton council and Cheshire County Council employees.

Council workers have been threatening to strike for some time over the Government's controversial retirement plans which would see the age of retirement in the public sector rise from 60 to 65 and an early retirement scheme scrapped. Across the country a total of 1.5 million workers have been balloted on the issue.

Despite talks between deputy PM John Prescott and trade unions, the deadlock has still not been broken.

Staff at Job Centres, driving test centres, schools, colleges and town halls are all due to take part in next Wednesday's industrial action.

A Unison spokesperson said: 'This result shows the overwhelming strength of feeling of members to defend their right to a reasonable public sector pension.'

Stephanie Thomas, Unison's senior regional officer, said: '

'The public sector is notoriously low paid and one of the attractions for many employees was the pension scheme.

'They paid up for a pension deal and now they are being told it will not be there when they retire.

'People should be able to retire when they want to, not wait until they are 65. We have members who work in street cleaning, for example, who should not be expected to work at that age.'

Halton council is keen to stress the strike will have a minimal impact on council services.

David Parr, Halton council's chief executive said: 'The council will do everything in its powers to keep services running, but there is a strong possibility certain services will be affected. We will do our best to pick up on this later in the week.'

In an effort to make things easier for the public, the council is advising people to leave general business with the authority until a day or two after the strike.

For instance, if you pay your bills or rates via the Direct Link, it is recommended you do not do so on the day of the strike.