Unite ballots city council workers over potential strike action

MEMBERS of the Unite union working for Manchester City Council have demonstrated “very real anger” in a consultative ballot held over whether to take industrial action over the council’s plan to cut 2,100 jobs.

The union said that 67% of members who voted said they would be willing to consider all forms of industrial action, including strike action. Some 20% of members who voted said they were against industrial action, but only 20% of the union’s 1,024-strong membership actually voted.

The union said that the low turnout was normal for this type of consultative ballot.

“Our members have lost their fear, and are prepared to stand up and be counted,” said Unite’s national officer for local authorities, Peter Allenson. “The result demonstrates real anger at the scale of what the council is proposing which will severely damage services to the local people.

”It is now up to the Unite branch to decide how it wishes to proceed and whether to go for a formal ballot for some kind of industrial action.

”The city council needs to take note that our members will not take the decimation of local government services lying down. This is not just a fight that affects our members and their jobs, but the wider Manchester community and what sort of local government services they wish to see in the years to come.”

Manchester City Council has said that it needs to reduce the size of its workforce by around 17% after changes to the amount of funding given to it by central government has meant that it is facing a shortfall of £110m next year and a further £60m in 2012/13.

However, it has indicated that it will attempt to avoid compulsory redundancies where possible.

Meanwhile, the union is also hosting a protest at Rochdale Town Hall tonight over the borough council’s decision to cut up to 750 jobs to find savings of £14m in its budget.