Members of Wiltshire’s parking enforcement team will be striking on Saturday, November 4, but the Council have emphasised that parking charges and restrictions will still be in place.

Even though some parking officers who are part of the GMB union will be striking, Wiltshire Council say they will have staff monitoring its parking sites across the county, and penalty charge notices can still be issued.

The industrial action will last for one day only, and relates to proposals to make changes to the council’s current unsocial, standby and callout policies.

The GMB Union, members of which work in utilities, social care, ambulance service and local government, among others, protested the policy outside County Hall in Trowbridge this October.

According to the union, more than 500 staff who are called on to work out of hours are affected. 

Wiltshire Council denies this and says it is committed to resolving this long-standing issue. 

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: GMB's bin workers chose to strike in March 2022.GMB's bin workers chose to strike in March 2022. (Image: Newsquest)

Terence Herbert, Chief Executive of Wiltshire Council, said: “While the strike is being held on 4 November, car park users should continue to pay for parking as normal, as all charges and restrictions remain in place and we will have staff monitoring the sites.

“We recognise the rights of GMB members to strike at this time, but do not feel that this action will help to move us forward to a resolution to this matter.

“For the sake of the well-being of our staff, and our need to ensure our policies are fit for purpose, we have also been clear that this matter cannot remain unresolved indefinitely.

“The existing terms and conditions are not financially sustainable in their current form.

“We have been seeking to reach a collective agreement, but to date, the unions have not provided any alternative feasible proposals, although Unison and Unite did get a mandate to agree to the proposed changes.

“Our absolute preference remains to reach a collective agreement but if this is not possible then we will seek to reach an agreement with staff on an individual basis.

“We remain open to alternative proposals from the unions that meet our business objectives. We have been speaking to affected staff to provide them with all the information they need, and will continue to do so.

“It is in everyone's best interests that this is resolved as quickly and fairly as possible and we'll continue to work hard to achieve this.”