When will the strike be held? Unions have already decided that a 24-hour national walkout will be held on July. Unison has warned that every local authority in the country was facing recruitment and retention problems.
What is the kernel of the problem? Well, a Guardian leader argued last month that there were a series of current public sector disputes that had a common source. This, it said, was the "the sudden release of suppressed expectations now that the public sector is being given the funds of which it has been deprived for so many years".
The leader added: "The extra cash is mainly for buildings and equipment to reverse the decline in schools, hospitals and transport. But it is also aimed at altering the imbalance between public and private pay levels that has built up over the years."
How did the Guardian see the political dimensions of this? The Guardian leader argued the government was walking on thin ice as there is no pay policy, as such, in the public sector and the government does not want all its fund increases to be swallowed up by pay. If that happened, "there would be little to brag about at the next election" in terms of increased infrastructure, the Guardian said.
There is some evidence of an increase in public sector pay levels recently. But the leader concluded: "The government will need all of its skills to ensure that the explosion of suppressed expectations about pay does not jeopardise all the structural reforms planned."
Are council workers strikes common? No. The last national council workers' strike was in the 1979 winter of discontent, which saw a meltdown of public services. The prime minister, Jim Callaghan hoped to keep public sector pay claims under 5% but when tanker drivers forced a 14% rise, the floodgates opened and water workers, ambulance drivers, sewerage staff and dustmen all became involved in industrial action.
What has been happening to public sector pay levels recently? There has been some increase. Average earnings in the public sector rose 4.1% in the year to April compared with 3.1% in the private sector. Figures released last month showed that public sector jobs rose by 91,000 last year - the third successive yearly increase after a 20-year decline when 2 million jobs were lost.
What are the other rumbles of discontent in the public sector? Last month, for the first time since it was founded in 1753, the British Museum was forced to shut its gates because of industrial action against impending job cuts following a squeeze on its budget.
A few days earlier the Fire Brigades Union marched through central London demanding pay rises of up to 40%.
Air traffic controllers have rejected a 6% offer and may go to a ballot on their next move if talks fail. Meanwhile, hospital consultants are balloting on a 10% pay offer (over three years) in return for doing extra work within the NHS.
There are others, including a ballot at London Transport over safety, and an ongoing dispute among university academics.
