A SECOND day of disruption to Wychavon District Council services is being threatened as disgruntled workers pursue a national pay claim.

Wednesday, August 14 has been targeted by unions - including Unison, GMB and T and G - for a national strike in support of a six per cent pay claim for local government employees.

The first day of strike action took place on Wednesday, July 17.

Wychavon was among authorities nationwide affected by a walkout of workers that day, although the council claimed "minimum disruption" was caused.

Local government employers have offered a pay increase of just three per cent, which has been rejected by union chiefs. Adrian Gregson, Worcestershire's Unison branch secretary, said that unless an improved offer was forthcoming, his members were set to strike again.

"We're going ahead with the strike on Wednesday, August 14," he explained, "and that will affect everybody; it did last time and we're hoping it's going to be as successful as the last one.

"Our experience was that we had a great deal of support from our members and there's a list of schools, libraries and offices that were shut."

He added: "The services were severely disrupted, whether the building was shut or not, and we would expect that to be the same again."

Mr Gregson warned that the dispute could escalate after August 14's proposed strike if the workers' demands were not met, with more selective action a possibility, to hit specific areas of council work.