Unions in UK prepare ballot papers for millions of public sector workers

Unions in Britain are preparing ballot papers for millions of public sector workers who plan to launch a series of strikes, starting with a day of action on 30November, in a bitter standoff with the government over pension.

A key aspect of industrial action law in UK is that industrial action must have the clear support of those workers who would be involved and the law requires that a ballot of employees be taken in accordance with strict legal requirements, before industrial action is called for or endorsed. Only in case the ballot produced a majority in favour of industrial action the action would be lawful.

Over 20 unions representing up to 3 million workers ranging from firefighters, to social workers to driving test examiners, are set to clash with the government.

The first salvo was fired by Unison with the announcement it would ballot its 1.1 million public service workers over the next few weeks and would be joined by the country's biggest unions.

The two sides have taken their positions and are now deadlocked over plans to up pension contributions for millions of public sector workers.

According to chancellor George Osborne, union bosses were behaving in a "deeply irresponsible" way and urged them to return to the negotiating table, however union leaders said talks held over the past eight months were a "farce" and accused ministers of refusing to change their deeply unpopular proposals.