UNISON, GMB and Unite members staged a 3 hour strike yesterday at Chester West & Cheshire Council in the opening salvo of industrial action to challenge imposed cuts in pay allowances. The cash rich Tory led unitary council had used the pretext of Government cuts and post-reorganisation workforce harmonisation to ruthlessly cut weekend working and unsocial allowances despite the national agreement requiring any variation to be subject to negotiation and agreement. Hundreds of workers brought services to a halt at 3PM and staged a noisy protest outside the main Council office in Chester: Further escalating action will follow in the weeks ahead, following a strong ballot result which belied employer claims that over 90% of the workforce had acquiesced to pressure to sign inferior contracts:
http://www.winsfordguardian.co.uk/news/9529534.Council_workers_walk_out_in_three_hour_protest/r/?ref=rss
