Council and school support workers' strike suspended

Three unions representing local government and school support workers have suspended a planned strike in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Unison, GMB and Unite - which said they represented more than 1.5 million people in these roles - had organised a strike next week over pay.

But they said Tuesday's action had been suspended after the Local Government Association (LGA) made "new proposals".

The unions said they would now consult their members on the proposals.

They said the LGA's pay offer covered the period from 1 April this year to 31 March 2016.

The workers involved have the "lowest pay in the public sector and have suffered significant attacks on their conditions of work in recent years", the unions added.