Council workers strike over pay

Hundreds of thousands of local government workers went on strike on Wednesday in a dispute over pay that threatened to paralyse services from education to rubbish collection.

The pay dispute is a test of the government's nerve at a time when it is hoping to fight soaring inflation by forcing public sector workers to accept modest pay settlements.

"Everywhere our members will be solid. Today and tomorrow nearly 600,000 of our members will be on strike. It will be one of the biggest strikes since the general strike of 1926," Dave Prentis, boss of the public service union Unison told BBC radio.

The Local Government Association, which represents employers, said it believed only about a quarter of staff would walk out, or 325,000 workers.

With inflation running at its highest in more than a decade, the Labour government has stressed the need for wage restraint to help keep price pressures contained, but public sector workers say they need more cash to offset rising living costs.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown can ill afford to fall out of favour with Labour's traditional trade union supporters as he faces a risk of defeat in the next election due by May 2010.

In line with government policy, the Local Government Association has kept wage settlements for its workers broadly in line with the official 2 percent inflation target - offering most staff a 2.45 percent increase.

Unions say that with inflation hitting 3.8 percent in June, that translates into a pay cut. They have embarked on a two-day strike to press their employers into increasing the offer.

The LGA says any further increases would result in higher council tax bills for households or reduced services.

"We have simply reached the limit of what is affordable," said Jan Parkinson, Managing Director of the Local Government Employers. "In the current difficult economic climate we do not believe it would be fair to add to people's burden."

Economists have said Britain could plunge into a recession as the housing market spirals downwards and activity across service and manufacturing sectors weakens sharply.

But rising inflation - mainly due to soaring global oil, commodity and food prices - have put the government and the Bank of England on high alert.

Brown is unlikely to retreat on his calls for pay restraint, even if it means losing further support from the trade unions, already bitter over large job cuts in the public sector.

"Whether you're in the private sector or the public sector . we cannot allow inflationary wage increases because that would mean that everyone, especially people on lower incomes, would suffer and nobody wants to see those days again," Chancellor Alistair Darling said on Tuesday.