Huntingdonshire council disappointed at further strike action plan

The first strike action is scheduled to run for five days from Monday, with a further four-day strike threatened from 29 August

A council said it was "disappointed" to hear of further strike action in a dispute over pay.

Refuse workers, customer service staff and planning officers at Huntingdonshire District Council are due to strike from Monday.

Further industrial action may now also take place from 29 August.

The union Unison said 76% of its members voted to support the action and it was "hopeful that we can break the deadlock in talks later today".

The council had offered staff a 4% pay rise and a one-off payment of £1,000, with a further payment in December.

It said this "addressed one of Unison's core requests" to make sure "all contracted staff [were] receiving at least the real living wage in 2023 to 2024".

In July, Unison announced that a majority of its members at Huntingdonshire District Council voted in support of action

Unison's eastern regional organiser, Cameron Matthews, said the fact staff were "taking industrial action shows how seriously they're struggling".

"Council workers are only asking for enough pay to keep their heads above water," he said.

"Prices aren't going down, so one-off payments simply won't help in the long term."

The first planned industrial action is scheduled for five days from Monday and will be "limited to interruption to the green bin collection service", according to the council.

Martin Hassall, executive councillor for corporate and shared services, said he hoped the action could be avoided.

"We apologise for the inconvenience that this will cause people but contingency planning is under way," he said.

"Arrangements are in place to ensure we offer our important front line services to residents as best as we can on the affected days."

The council is run by a coalition of the HDC Independent, Liberal Democrat, Labour and Green councillors, although the Conservatives are the largest single party with 21 of the 52 councillors.