Bradford council IT strike looms after "complete breakdown" in talks

Benefit payments, council tax collection and other services will be hit by striking IT workers at Bradford Metropolitan District Council if a ballot this week goes in favour of action over the terms of a £100m IT outsourcing deal.

The Unison and GMB unions had given the council until Christmas Eve to work out a compromise that would not involve the 135 public sector IT staff being permanently transferred to a private sector outsourcer, with the preferred alternative being secondment.

But relations look to have completely broken down, with Unison claiming council management have not talked to the trade unions since 4 December.

A ballot on strike action, which is being conducted by the Electoral Reform Society, will now be carried out from Wednesday 7 January with a result expected about two weeks later.

Gurjit Singh, chair of the Bradford branch of Unison, said the nature of any strike action has yet to be decided but confirmed it will hit council services reliant on ICT.

"It will affect all ICT services, including email and telephone, housing benefits, council tax collection and the revenue and benefits section," he told silicon.com. "But we will try and make sure it doesn't affect the more vulnerable members of society who rely on those payments."

Councillor Simon Cooke, executive member for corporate and regeneration at the council, said in a statement: “We are disappointed to hear that the union feels it necessary to take this course of action. But we will continue to talk to union representatives and staff to try and resolve this situation.”

The council has shortlisted Atos KPMG, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and a joint bid from IBM and ITNet for the 10-year deal to overhaul the authority's IT infrastructure. A preferred bidder for the project, known as Bradford-i, is due to be selected by March 2004, with the contract expected to start in July.