Swansea council strike threatens to escalate as Unison ballots all members

The
strike by 100 IT staff at Swansea
council over plans to outsource their jobs could escalate after their union,
Unison, decided to ballot all its 5,000 members at the council on industrial
action.

Unison
held a council-wide union meeting, and a proposal to ballot all staff for
industrial action was carried unanimously, according to one source.

The
100 workers have been on indefinite strike since 16 August, and refuse workers
have already taken unofficial action to support them.

The
council is considering outsourcing its IT department and staff to either
consultancy Capgemini, or IT services company ITNet, as part of the proposed £100m Service@Swansea
outsourcing project.

The
type of action to be taken if the ballot results in a ‘yes’ vote has not yet
been confirmed, although the strike by the IT workers will continue while the
ballot is being run.  

Daniel Thomas