Thousands of Kirklees Council workers to be balloted for strike action

Kirklees Unison said its 6,500 members will be ballotted from Thursday, until Wednesday, July 10, over compulsory redundancies.

It claims a temporary ‘no compulsory redundancies’ agreement was broken when the council made two staff members redundant at Ashbrow JI&N School back in January.

Kirklees Unison branch secretary Paul Holmes, said: “Kirklees Council underspent last year. It underspent by £5m and still recruits staff on over £110,000 per year.

“Meanwhile the public, in the middle of the government’s austerity programme, are faced by declining services and cuts.

“Who will compulsory redundancies help? No one, except employers who are out to threaten employees. The public are faced with budget cuts, housing shortages, rising prices, unaffordable mortgages, pension cuts and poverty. Enough is enough.”