Wiltshire parking wardens to strike over pay

Council chief executive Terence Herbert said a lifetime protection pay deal "was never on the table"

Wiltshire's parking wardens are set to strike next month in an ongoing row over changes to pay for working unsociable hours.

GMB union members are due to walk out for a week from Saturday 10 December.

They say an agreement permanently protecting the pay for existing workers had been made with Wiltshire Council after strikes were called off in June.

The council denies ever making the offer.

Local GMB branch secretary Andy Newman told BBC Radio Wiltshire: "A deal was reached which we were happy enough with and the council were happy enough with - that the pay would not change for existing staff but the council would bring new staff on at a lower salary if they could recruit them."

He added: "We called off a seven-day strike at the beginning of July on the basis that we had come to a deal."

Mr Newman accused the chief executive of the council, Terence Herbert, of going back on the deal.

GMB secretary Andy Newman accuses Wiltshire Council of going back on a deal

Offering a four-year pay protection pledge for staff, Mr Herbert said the council had made a "fair" and "generous proposal" to the unions involved; an offer "no other local authority has made".

He said it was "disappointing" but "not terribly surprising that GMB have this approach and are trying to personalise this dispute".

He added: "I can categorically state that no offer for lifetime protection was put on the table. It was never on the table.

"Unfortunately GMB are lying to the public and to their members," he alleged.