Strike likely to cause major disruption to council services

Unison, Unite, the GMB, National Union of Teachers (NUT) are striking over the Government’s one per cent pay rise offer after three years of pay freezes.

Fire Brigades Union (FBU) members are also taking action as part of their ongoing dispute with the Government over pensions.

The fire service is likely to be the worst affected with the FBU striking at some point every day until July 21.

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service said: “It’s only full time firefighters. We still have the retained firefighters and we have contingency plans.

“We are saying to people still dial 999 if it’s an emergency, but bear in mind we will have limited resources.”

The strikes are mainly in the early hours of the morning, during the morning rush hour and early evening.

Schools are also affected by the strikes. At the time of The County Times going to press Horsham’s Arunside Primary School, Millais School and North Heath Community Primary School were scheduled for partial closures. Some classes in Billingshurst Primary School; St Peter’s CofE Primary School, Henfield; Storrington First School and The Weald, Billingshurst are also affected. Upper Beeding Primary School will be closed totally.

The details of the FBU strikes and school closures are on the West Sussex County Council website www.westsussex.gov.uk.

Horsham District Council has said it is aiming to collect all waste and recycling as usual. Should it not be collected, residents are asked to leave out their bins as other collections are being scheduled later this week.