Unison members back strike action

Members of UNISON have today voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action on November 30th. The union balloted members including nurses, teaching assistants, social workers, care assistants, paramedics, police staff, school dinner ladies, probation workers and cleaners. That makes them the first of the big three unions to back the national “day of action” at the end of the month. The results were as follows:

Yes: 245,358
No: 70,253 Turnout was 29%

Responding to the result, Dave Prentis, UNISON’s General Secretary, said:

“The decisive yes vote in the ballot, reflects the deep concern that our members have over Government ministers’ proposals for their pensions. Yesterday’s statement in Parliament was a marked improvement on earlier proposals.

“But, it is important to understand that the statement has to be translated into offers in the scheme specific talks. We still have had no offer in those negotiations, where such an offer can legitimately be made.

“We support the TUC day of action on 30 November, but will be negotiating right up to then and beyond to get a fair deal for our members.”

We’ll bring you the results of other union ballots ahead of November 30th – including Unite and the GMB – as we have them.