COUNCIL workers in Wrexham continue to strike amid an ongoing pay dispute. 

Unite the union announced that its members in an initial 23 local authorities across England and Wales, including Wrexham Council, would take strike action over pay throughout September.

Unite members who work for Wrexham Council (except those working in schools) have been on strike since Monday (September 4) and are expected to remain on strike until September 18. 

A number of council services have been affected by the industrial action, including bin collections. 

READ MORE: Wrexham Council provide update amid ongoing strike action

While council workers, who have formed picket lines on Abbey Road and Ruthin Road in Wrexham, say they don't want to be on strike, they believe they have no other choice. 

Simon Ellis, from Unite the Union said: "We’re out on the picket lines because there's members of this workforce that are earning 21k a year, the numbers doing the rounds of £50k a year are not what people here are getting paid.

"Unfortunately we had a meeting with Wrexham Council yesterday to open negotiations but that’s been refused by Ian Bancroft (chief executive). That leaves us in a position where we've got no other option but to impose further strike dates.

"The people here on the picket line don’t want to do that, they want to enter negotiations with Wrexham Council, who do have the ability to make changes, not on the national office, but for the local increments they do, but right now they are refusing to negotiate.

"My message to Wrexham Council would be to consider what you’re doing, bring the dispute to an end, we don’t have to impose any further strike dates but we’ll have no other option to do so if there is no change."

"We’ll be back here Monday morning, we’ve had a really good turnout again this morning, but the main message to the public is, we don’t want to be out here on strike, the members don’t want to be striking they want to be back in work but the only way we’re going to achieve that is if Wrexham Council open a channel of negotiation with us.

"We’ve had a lot of support, with social media these days there’s bound to be negativity, but a lot of people think these guys are on mega money, when in fact they’re on £21k a year and that’s going out in the rain, sleet and snow.

"During COVID, we were applauding these people for what they were doing and now Wrexham Council are just ignoring them."

A Wrexham Council spokesperson said: “Wrexham Council and the Chief Executive have not refused to enter negotiations. They have stated that the council is prepared to discuss pay related issues with Unite as long as it follows the normal process for pay negotiations which are collectively with all local authorities co-ordinated by the national employers (including the Welsh Local Government Association) and involving all recognised trade unions.

“We are committed fully to working with the unions around social partnership and would want to ensure any negotiations follow the strong principles and coordinated approaches that have worked well over a number of years.”

A Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) spokesperson said: “We strongly urge Unite to call off its planned strikes so that the 2023 pay award can be paid to employees.

“We are committed to social partnership with our trade union partners and would want to ensure any negotiations follow the strong principles and coordinated approach of the normal process for pay, through the National Joint Council for Local Government Services, a well-established collective bargaining process for negotiations between our recognised trade unions and all 22 local authorities.”