For the schoolchildren, it was as if the summer holidays had come a few days early. For their parents, though, the strike by school-support staff-dinner ladies, teaching assistants and the like-as well as hundreds of thousands of other local-government workers on July 16th and 17th was less cause for celebration. Besides having to find babysitters or take the day off work, they also had to deal with unemptied bins and closed (or undermanned) town halls. For Labour ministers, it was a worrying portent of further confrontation with the unions that fund the party.rnCouncil workers are unhappy with the 2.45% pay rise offered to them by town halls, arguing that, with retail-price inflation at 4.6%, the deal represents a wage cut in real terms. Both sides are appealing to public opinion. The trade unions say that many of the workers in question are poorly paid and often work part-time. The councils retort that any increases above 2.45% would require either higher taxes or cuts in public services.
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