HUNDREDS of thousands of workers will decide within hours whether to join the ranks of what is now poised to be the biggest co-ordinated public-sector strike in years.
Two million public-sector workers could now join a July 10 mass walkout with the result of a ballot of general union GMB’s 220,000 local government members revealed this week.
Unison, Unite and PCS members are also being balloted in protest at a pay offer worth 1 per cent for most local authority employees.
Midlands trade unionists are turning challenge into opportunity through collective power and renewed confidence, says STUART RICHARDS
Roger McKenzie talks to general secretary of Unison CHRISTINA McANEA about the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on members, the local government funding emergency and the threat of Reform UK



