The country's largest public service union has topped up its strike fund by £2m in readiness for future industrial action, the Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, will tell members today.
Mr Prentis will make the announcement at a meeting of union negotiators from across the UK, to reassure members that the union will be ready to act over repeated failures by local government to tackle pay discrimination, and to stave off the threat to council pension schemes from government reforms.
The union is also concerned at the "creeping privatisation" taking place within public services.
The cash boost is estimated to bring the union's central strike fund pot to £6m.
Unison warned last month that industrial action could take place after pension talks with the government ended in stalemate over proposals to raise council workers' retirement age to 65.
Discussions are also taking place over proposed changes to the local government pension scheme, which unions say they are prepared to consider only as part of an overall package that would "benefit staff as well as employers".
On tackling pay discrimination, Unison has given councils two more years to deliver on the Single Status Agreements (SSA), intended to end the unequal pay faced by hundreds of thousands of women workers across the country.
Despite a joint agreement between councils and unions made in 1997, the majority of councils have still not delivered. A pay deal agreed earlier this year between the two sides saw local authorities pledging to put things right within three years.
Unions say that failure to see sufficient progress being made within the next two years will force them to act.
Mr Prentis will make clear today that unacceptable changes will not be taken lying down. "If we harness the power of this union and coordinate our action, we can make great strides in the fight for fairness and justice for those who deliver public service," Mr Prentis will tell union officials.
Privatisation of public services threatens jobs and pensions, Mr Prentis will warn, hinting that coordinated strike action could be held with unions in other countries.
At the European Social Forum meeting over the weekend, Mr Prentis announced the union's decision to join with German public sector union Verdi, to speak with "one voice" in their united campaign against the privatisation of public services across Europe.
