GMB members in councils and schools strike over pay Thursday July 10

GMB members working in local authorities and schools across England, Wales and Northern Ireland on strike on Thursday 10th July 2014 over pay will take part in a series of events and rallies in every area. Below is a list of provisional events. In each council area there will be pickets on council depots and municipal buildings from 6am onwards. For councils run ferries, toll bridges and tunnells the pickets will be in place from midnight.

The strike follows a ballot of GMB members that saw a 73% vote in favour of going on strike. The strike is for 24 hours. The ballot was conducted by the Electoral Reform Society and they reported 26,281 votes in favour of strike action, 9,799 against and 51 spoilt papers. Turnout was 23% which is slightly above average.

GMB National Secretary, Brian Strutton, said:

"GMB members have spoken loud and clear. They want a decent pay rise.

We have tried sensible discussions, we've sought to negotiate reasonably, we've said we are willing to accept ACAS arbitration rather than go on strike - but to everything we've tried the employers have said "no". So we have no choice.

GMB members serving school meals, cleaning streets, emptying bins, looking after the elderly, helping children in classrooms and in all the other vital roles serving our communities are fed up with being ignored and undervalued.

Their pay has gone up only 1% since 2010 and in October even the national minimum wage will overtake local authority pay scales. Their case is reasonable, the employers won't listen and don't care, no wonder they have turned to strike action as the only way of making their voices heard. With other unions involved too, the 10 July looks like being the second biggest dispute ever with up to 2 million workers on strike."