"I don't think the action on July 10 will lead immediately to an increased offer - but I do think that it will send out a signal that the local government workforce have reached the limits of their ability to absorb pay cuts. It is my hope that this will lead to a reopening of pay negotiations that have currently stalled."
"I believe the strike will have little impact on the public and will simply irritate people who depend on our services. Naturally, I would like a decent pay increase after several years with no increase but I believe we have to face the harsh reality of the economic situation we find ourselves in. I think the public will have very little sympathy with a strike at this time and I believe it will achieve little."
"At a time when the government are saying that the public have not noticed any difference in the quality of local government services despite massive cuts in funding, it will remind the public that its the staff that have suffered through real cuts in wages."
"It will set out a marker that local government staff will not continue to accept below inflation increases."
"I am concerned that if we do not take action, our pay will continue to fall in relation to inflation. I am expected to complete more and more work as resources in local government are cut - there are not enough hours in the working day so some gets done in my own time. I think local government has been treated unfairly in contrast to other areas of the public sector."
"A better approach would be for all employees to work strictly to rule, doing only what fits with their job description and doing only the hours they are paid for - this would quickly demonstrate how overworked and under-resourced most of the public sector now is. Unfortunately it would be nigh on impossible to get enough staff to agree and stick to such an approach, not least because staff are all to aware of the impact it could have on services, particularly for the most vulnerable."
"I don't approve of strikes but I am sick of local government staff taking the brunt of the financial failings and attacks from government. We are trying to do a good job and we constantly under greater pressure and loss of benefits. The strike won't change a thing we will still get crumbs and still be under attack, who cares about us? Certainly not the government."
"Although 1% as a pay award could seem low, in a time when local government are forced to save millions of pounds and could achieve this with job losses, I am grateful for any level of pay award, especially given that we had three years of pay freezes until recently. It would be good however to see the government imposing the same sort of restrictions on themselves, as they too are public sector workers of a kind."
"The pay offer is an insult to all of the local government workers who have worked, and continue to work, tirelessly with increased workloads and less resources during a period when they have had their pay effectively cut due to pay freezes. Contrary to media mythology the credit crunch was caused by the banks and not the public sector."
"Rather than strike action on one day I would opt for working contractual hours only and nothing beyond that. Local government staff regularly work over and above their contractual hours to get the job done. If this did not happen it would highlight the additional productivity that is actually happening in local government highlighting the fact that staff need higher wages or local councils need more resources to deliver services."
"I recognise the low turnout in all three union ballots but that's not very different from any ballot, including General Elections. The majority is better than many a political leader would love!"
"The reported number of votes in favour of a strike was embarrassingly low. How can this action be justified?"
"Local government workers are not responsible for the financial crash yet we are the ones picking up the bill. Enough is enough. A decent pay rise for local government workers will stimulate the economy and aid recovery if you follow Cairns economic theory".
"Low paid local government employees are on their knees and it is only the fear of reprisals and the fact that they cannot afford to miss a days pay that thousands more or not striking. The low turnout is an indictment of the shocking treatment of their staff by employers over recent years and not something that LGA should be crowing over."
"As someone who won't even get the 1% increase I consider the strike abhorrent. I understand that wage freezes do reduce living standards when the prices are rising but there is no money to pay for increased wages. How many jobs are they prepared to sacrifice for a pay rise? At the end of the day given the cuts made by central government there is no money to pay increased wages. It may not be fair but that is how it is. I think it is better to have a job than not to have one and I am prepared to make a personal sacrifice to achieve that aim."
"Pay is the least of my concerns personally; outsourcing and service cuts are far more damaging. The union is ineffectual generally on these issues - but supporting this action is the only voice we have."
"Given the scale of funding cuts facing local government I think the unions should focus on job and service losses in the public and voluntary sector as a result of cuts rather than a narrow self interest on pay."
"I wonder why things like large scale redundancies, wage reductions through single status and reducing employment benefits to the lowest base level have not been addressed in addition to low pay offer."
"With the biggest impact of public expenditure cuts to come this action will draw attention to the impact these cuts will have on services to the most vulnerable."
"There is no money in the pot. If a significant pay rise is made, services will have to be reduced and or jobs cut."
"I'm not convinced that pay is the issue we should be going on strike about. I think we'd get a lot more public sympathy if the strike was about protecting the public services that are being destroyed; or the thousands of jobs in the sector that are being decimated; or even the erosion of pay and conditions for thousands of people through Single Status agreements. I think that the strike may lead to a marginally increased pay offer but nothing significant."
"Yes, it would be nice to get a larger pay increase, but let's face it, there's no money to do so. Even if the unions were as powerful as they think they are and could somehow force the change, I wonder how many extra redundancies would need to be made to pay for the increased wage bill?"
"The Trade Unions should take into consideration the number of members who did not vote. It cannot be assumed that they support the action or that they will not attend work on the day. To progress strike action without a significant mandate from the total membership has the potential for some groups of local authority employees to seriously consider their continued TU membership."
"Local government workers have had a total increase of just 1% in their wages in the last four years since 2010; utilities bills, transport costs have gone up by far higher rates since then. There's no way that local government workers can boost their local economies as all discretionary spending has long disappeared. Wages just cover core spending now to keep our heads above water."
"Local government used to be a good job, but service conditions have been eroded over a long time. If I was starting my career again now, I would opt for something different."
