Barnet bin men and school staff to go on strike

Council workers in Barnet, including school catering staff and bin collectors, are to go on strike in a row over public service cuts.

The 24-hour strike, voted for by almost 90 per cent of Barnet Unison members, is against outsourcing of services.

Barnet Council is looking at the future of a number of public services over the next four months, including whether to impose significant cuts to libraries.

Unison chiefs say the council would be left with less than 300 workers.

The strike action, on October 7, will involve social workers, coach escorts, drivers, occupational therapists, schools catering staff, education welfare officers, library staff, children centre workers, and street cleaning and refuse workers.

John Burgess, Barnet Unison branch secretary, said: “Our members want to work for the council, they want to be directly accountable to the residents of Barnet. Our members don’t want to work for an employer which will have to place the shareholders’ legal demands before local residents’ needs. [They] don’t want to work for an employer which uses zero hours contracts, which will not pay the London Living Wage as a basic minimum, and which will take jobs out of the borough.”

A council spokesman said: “If a strike does go ahead we will work to minimise disruption to our services as much as possible.”