Council house maintenance staff threaten strike action

Unite members want the same annual leave as office workers

- Phil Corrigan

A UNION has warned that council house maintenance staff could take industrial action in a dispute over annual leave.

Unite says it is 'totally unacceptable' that craftworkers at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, including joiners, plumbers and electricians, receive two fewer days of annual leave than office workers.

In a consultative ballot of around 225 workers, 99 per cent voted in favour of taking industrial action over the issue. Unite says it will begin formal proceedings if the council does not address the disparity in a 'timely manner'.