Schools and libraries closed as council staff strike in dispute over 2.45% pay rise offer
Members of Unison and Unite began protesting outside the city's County Hall and Civic Centre as early as 7am yesterday, in what was the start of a 48-hour walkout.
The strike is the result of deep unrest among council employees across the UK who say the Government's offer of a 2.45 per cent pay increase amounts to a pay cut due to the rising cost of fuel and food.
Despite there only being clusters of supporters at some of the city's pickets, union leaders say they were pleased with the turnout at main protest sites outside council offices.
Roger Spackman, branch secretary of Unison's county council branch, who was leading the picket outside County Hall yesterday, said: “I'm very happy with the level of support we've had, it's been a very positive response.
“There is a lot of anger amongst the workers.
“We have got to this point because the Government have refused to negotiate, they walked away from the table.
“We haven't budged from six per cent because they wouldn't enter discussions, but we want to talk about it, we don't want to have to strike.”
Outside the Civic Centre, strikers tried to persuade those going into the building not to cross the picket line.
Meanwhile four GMB members were reported to have refused to cross a picket line at the city's Mary Arches car park, where they work as parking enforcement officers, in support of the strike — despite their union accepting the pay offer.
Karen Williams, chairman of Unison's city council branch, said she was pleasantly surprised at the level of support, after earlier expressing concerns about a “subdued” feeling around the action.
“I feel very optimistic about the strike,” she said.
“We are getting the message across to people that the 2.45 per cent pay offer is just not acceptable.
“Local government workers are delivering excellent services and to be offered such a poor increase is a kick in the teeth.”
A picket line was also in place at Exeter Central Library.
Library manager Andrew Davey said: “We know that there are lots of people working for the library on low rates of pay.
“For many of them, surviving on just their library income is a real struggle.”
Overall public support for the picket lines was evident as car and lorry drivers sounded their horns and passers-by stopped to take leaflets and ask questions of the strikers.
Despite being the biggest campaign of industrial action for many years, the level of disruption to services appeared to be less severe than expected.
There were fears that essential services such as refuse collections and domiciliary care for the elderly would grind to a halt as a result of staff walk-outs. But Exeter City Council reported only minor disruption, with all refuse trucks working and only one truck light on workers.
All city centre toilets were open and staffed and sweeping was as normal.
However, Devon County Council confirmed that several schools and libraries were closed yesterday and were expected to remain shut today (see panel on right).
Unison is calling for a six per cent pay increase for the lowest paid workers, many of who they say are struggling to cope with the spiralling cost of living.
One county council employee who joined yesterday's picket line said he often struggled to “pay bills and buy food to eat” on his wage.
Earning around £6 an hour as a care assistant, Colin Casselden said he was forced to subsidise his day-to-day living costs with his life savings.
The 53-year-old, of Barbican Court, Exeter, said: “My wages are totally inadequate — by the time I've paid the rent and council tax there is little left to pay the bills and to eat.
“Money is a constant worry. If I didn't have my savings to help I'd struggle to stay above water.
“Morale is at an all-time low. We work extremely hard and get very little reward for it.”
Street cleaner Pete Saunders joined the picket line outside the Civic Centre.
The 44-year-old, of Alford Crescent, in Whipton, said: “My job involves hard, dirty work and we don't get recognised.
“I feel this is the only medium we have got of communicating our views.
“My partner is unable to work at the moment so we are on a very low wage.
“It is a constant struggle to pay for things and these are not luxury items I'm talking about, these are essentials like heating and food shopping.”
The strike action will culminate with a protest rally of council workers through the city today at 12.30pm.
Employees from Devon County Council will be joined by workers from the city council and libraries as they march from the Civic Centre to the Mint Methodist Church.
Unison says it will consider further stoppages if negotiations over the pay offer are refused following this strike.
Mill Water Special School in Honiton was closed in East Devon but the district council reported that it was relatively unaffected by the industrial action.
At Teignbridge Council's Forde House offices a crowd of workers gathered outside the main and side entrances to protest about the below inflation Government pay offer.
At Newton Abbot's Knowles Hill School and Coombeshead College, classroom assistants, information technology and science technicians said they wanted a pay rise in line with other public sector workers.
Collette Palmer, a student support assistant at Knowles Hill School, said: “The pay rise does not cover the milk bill let alone the cost of living.
“We feel that, as learning support assistants, our role has progressed but our pay does not reflect that.
“We do a lot more than hand out paper and we are not valued for it.”
As a result of strike action, the school library was closed.
Teignbridge Unison union representative Christine Bolton said: “A lot of people are on full strike action and some people are doing core hours.
“Down at Teignbridge refuse and services, there are a lot of members out on strike today, but non Unison members are not out on strike so there are still some vehicles going out to do collections.”
Forde House was left without reception staff until 10am yesterday, as was Teignmouth tourist information centre.
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