Unions postpone London council strikes

Council worker unions today pulled backed from the brink of immediate strike action across the capital in a dispute over London weighting payments.

At a meeting this morning the unions agreed to give employers one last chance to respond to their demand for a single rate of ?4,000 as a supplement for all the capital's council workers.

Leaders from the Transport and General Workers' union, Unison and the GMB agreed that if the demand was not met by September 12 they would begin a wave of strike action, starting with a one-day strike in late September or early October.

In addition to that strike, the campaign would involve selective action targeted at council revenue collection such as parking services and council tax collection.

Julia Coleman, Unison's London head of local government said: "This claim is over a year old, we are giving them a final opportunity to respond."

Local government employers had been given until last week to respond to the claim, but no offer was made.

Explaining the union's strike strategy, Ms Coleman said: "It will hit councils in the pockets, and it should get the support of the public."

The current weighting for council workers in the capital ranges from ?1,407 to ?2,646, paid because of increased housing and related costs of living in London.

A spokeswoman for the Association of London Government said: "It is extremely disappointing that the London local government trade unions propose to strike again in September. The strikes in May, June and July did not find the missing millions needed to meet the unions' London weighting demand.

"London trade unions have demanded a ?4,000 London weighting payment on top of a national pay award. Councils simply don' t have the ?250m needed to meet their demand. Funding the claim would mean a ?90 council tax rise or 11,000 job loses. "