Council staff in strike threat

Workers at a Staffordshire council are threatening to go on strike if they do not get extra holiday time.

Unison is asking Cannock Chase Council to give staff an extra day off this year after councillors threw out the idea at a meeting last month.

The union responded by issuing a vote of no confidence in the council leadership and its senior officers and said industrial action was on the cards.

The row is centred on a decision by councillors to reduce the redundancy scheme at the authority and give workers a better car mileage rate but they rejected extra leave for staff.

Unison claim the holiday time, which would increase next year, was part of a package deal and should have been accepted along with the other changes.

A second union, UCATT, has said it could be prepared to join Unison in any strike action meaning more than half the council's workforce, over 300 staff, could take action. Council leader Neil Stanley said the council could not justify the costs in light of the authority's financial position.

"Could we afford to give staff more leave without making cuts in services to pay for it? The majority of councillors couldn't justify that and were not prepared to do it," he said.