COUNCIL bosses in South Wiltshire and the New Forest were putting contingency plans into place this week to combat the effects of a series of one-day strikes planned by local government workers.

The summer of discontent is due to get under way next Wednesday, when district and county council employees, ranging from refuse collectors and school caretakers to office staff and social workers, stage the first in a programme of stoppages in support of a pay claim.

It follows a nationwide vote in favour of industrial action by members of three public employee unions Unison, the TGWU and GMB.

They have rejected a three per cent pay offer by their council employers and are pressing for a rise nearer six per cent.

Schools, leisure centres, libraries and housing and environmental services across Wiltshire, Hampshire, Dorset and the rest of the country will be affected by the strikes.

But council chiefs have pledged to keep disruption to the public to a minimum by implementing contingency action.

Salisbury district council said this week that it believed it would be able to maintain a "near-normal" level of service during the one-day strikes.

The sole exception, it said, might be refuse collections and street cleaning, where special arrangements had been made to notify residents and businesses likely to be affected.

The council's cabinet member for resources, Cllr Sheila Warrander, said: "I am confident the contingency plans the council has developed will see us through the 17th with minimal disruption.

Salisbury branch administrator for Unison Mark Wareham said local government pay had fallen behind other public sector workers over the past ten years and many council staff were earning less than £5 an hour.

He said half of Salisbury district council's 600-strong staff were members of unions and were expected to strike next Wednesday.

But he said staff would provide cover for emergency call-outs and sensitive issues such as cemetery and crematorium funerals.