UK local government workers vote in favour of strike

British local government workers have voted in favour of a strike on March 23 if talks over pensions fail, a potential embarrassment for Prime Minister Tony Blair ahead of an expected spring election.

A joint statement yesterday by five unions representing 1.4 million workers described talks with Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott last night as constructive. But unions said their members would support a strike if there was no agreement.

The government wants to raise the public sector pension age to 65 from 60, starting from 2006 for new civil servants and from 2013 for existing workers. It argues that change is needed because people are living longer.

But unions are angry that local councils, many of which are struggling to cope with deficits, have whittled away pension benefits over several years.

Some of those shortfalls began when the previous Conservative government in the early 1990s allowed councils to tap into pension funds to help the transition from the very unpopular poll tax to the council tax.

With membership in decline in recent years, unions, which are the traditional base of Britain's ruling Labour Party, have made a more concerted effort to work together and still have a major, although less powerful, political voice.

"Our members who have paid their pension contributions week in, week out are very angry and are not prepared to accept changes by diktat. The average local government pension is just £3,800 a year - not a 'fat cat' sum," said UNISON General Secretary Dave Prentis in a release.

A majority of members in UNISON, Amicus, the Transport and General Workers Union, UCATT and the Public and Commercial Services Union voted to strike, with votes ranging between 67 per cent and 87 per cent.