Acting in Unison?

As Peter has already pointed out, the big question on inflation is whether the Government will stand firm over pay in the face of public sector strikes.

It seems that question could be answered sooner rather than later. Unison's local government members in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted "for a programme of sustained strike action over a 2.45% pay offer". The word is this will happen in July and last for two days to start with.

The impact of such a strike could hit hard seeing as these workers include teachers, bin men, council officers etc. In the words of Heather Wakefield, Unison's spokeswoman, these are "all those very important services that local communities rely on".

But if the government crunches the numbers it will notice that maybe things aren’t quite so bad. Yes, 600,000 people were balloted. But only 27% voted and of them only 55% agreed to walk out. So in total only about 1 in 8 actually voted for a strike, making the union's claim that it was "solid vote for action" and "a clear message...that our members are willing to fight for a decent pay rise", questionable.