Bradford IT staff vote in favour of strike action

Unions have warned they will bring Bradford council "to its knees" after IT staff voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over the terms of a proposed £100m outsourcing deal.

Atos KPMG, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and IBM/ITNet are currently in the running for the Bradford-i project to run the council's IT function, which will see the transfer of 135 staff from Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

But the Unison and GMB unions want the option of secondment for those IT staff who do not want to transfer to the private sector - they claim attempts at negotiation have failed, with the council excluding them from the evaluation process.

Staff have now been balloted on strike action with 91 per cent voting in favour and an 81 per cent turnout.

Gurjit Singh, chair of Unison, told silicon.com the union will meet with the council's CEO on Tuesday to give a final 24-hour deadline for their demands to be met. If that fails, a staff meeting will be held on Wednesday and the council will be issued with the required seven days' notice before industrial action begins.

"We are definitely looking at an all-out strike and then selective action that will bring the council to its knees," he said.

The union has previously warned that a strike will hit the collection of council tax, and the whole of the IT infrastructure, including email and telephone communications.

Bradford council was contacted but was not immediately available for comment.