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 | | Tuesday, 14 May, 2002, 09:10 GMT 10:10 UK Walkout by 55,000 council workers  Unison members are planning a march in London Thousands of local government workers in London are staging a 24-hour strike over pay. Unison's 55,000 members in all 32 London boroughs have called the strike over what they see as an inadequate London weighting. The union is calling for an increase in allowances, which range from �1,400 to �2,600 to account for the extra cost of living and working in London. Thousands of pupils preparing for exams may be disrupted by the strike because some schools could close if caretakers join the walkout starting at 1200 BST on Tuesday. .
A Unison spokeswoman said: "It was not our intention to stop the exams. "If schools do close, that is because of decisions taken by other people, including head teachers and teachers." Head teachers have been making arrangements to enable 11-year-olds to take the scheduled Key Stage Two tests in mathematics and science. Primary school heads may have to tell parents of children not taking the tests to keep them at home on health and safety grounds, to ensure that the examinations go ahead. 'Empty piggybank' Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison said his members wanted the London Weighting allowance to be increased to �4,000 a year. "If councils can pay expensive agency charges to employ temps to cover, they can find the money to pay a decent amount of London weighting to permanent staff," he said. Sir Robin Wales of the Association of London Government (ALG) said: "Strike action by Unison members in London is extremely disappointing. "Unison is shaking an empty piggybank, councils simply don't have the �250m needed to meet their pay demands." | |   See also: Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top England stories now:  Links to more England stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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