WALTHAM FOREST: Street wardens may strike over pay

3:57pm Thursday 1st November 2007

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STREET Wardens will be balloted for strike action within weeks, according to a union official.

Some of the wardens, who have been employed by the council to tackle anti-social behaviour since 2003, believe they are not being paid enough.

The wardens get paid an extra £2,000 a year to work unsociable hours, but the UNITE union, to which many belong, believes that they should be getting paid double that figure.

UNITE regional industrial organiser Paul Travis said that following a meeting with council officers last week in which the union put forward its proposals, he was promised a phone call from the council to inform him of the authority's position.

But he said that the council has not been in touch.

The union will now ballot its members for industrial action within a few weeks.

Mr Travis said: "We have made it very clear that we are willing to have a negotiation, but the council has not come forward with a figure, we feel we have made a reasonable offer."

The council's community safety cabinet member Afzal Akram said that an offer will be made to the Street Wardens within weeks and he is confident the dispute will be resolved.

He said: "The union is setting its own deadlines, but we work to our deadlines.

"We are talking to the unions and we are waiting for our legal people to confirm what we can and can't do.

"We are not going to discuss something with the union and then find out we can't legally do it."

It is not yet clear what form any industrial action will take, but Mr Travis said it will involve withdrawal of labour.

The dispute comes months after the council's cabinet announced that wardens will be given powers to issue fines for environmental crimes.

A pilot of the new powers is likely to take place in the new year and could be disrupted if industrial action is taken