Thousands balloted on IT strike escalation at Swansea

Strike ballot papers have been sent out to 5,000 council workers over the £100m outsourcing deal at Swansea council, with the ongoing IT strike showing no signs of ending.

Trade union Unison started sending out the ballot papers yesterday asking non-IT council workers if they are prepared to vote for industrial action in support of the 102 IT staff who have been on strike since August over the service@swansea project.

Unison claims there is widespread support for an escalation of strike action among the rest of the council staff over the treatment of the IT workers and the potential impact of privatisation on their own jobs. The ballot paper states the proposed action is "over the employer's failure to give guarantees against the threat of privatisation and redundancies".

The dispute has become increasingly bitter and talks with arbitration and conciliation service Acas began last week in an attempt to resolve the differences.

There appears to be little progress from those talks and now Swansea Council has accused Unison of demanding a veto over the future of public services in the city.

Chris Holley, council leader at Swansea, said in a statement that Unison's latest ballot moves the goalposts away from the dispute with IT staff to "completely unrelated" issues.

“The council does not have a hidden agenda to privatise services. We want what works best for the residents of Swansea and our staff. The council has also given a commitment that there will be no compulsory redundancies as a result of service@swansea. In fact, service@swansea aims to safeguard jobs."

Holley said it is unrealistic for Unison to ask for an open-ended guarantee that there will never be any redundancies, saying it is completely impossible to deliver.

Meanwhile a separate row has also broken out over the cost of the project, with the council now admitting it could be nearer to £150m.