Thousands of nuclear, rail, council and airport workers will take industrial action this week because of a series of separate disputes over pay.

Meanwhile leaders of the Fire Brigades Union were meeting again today to decide their next move in a row which has rekindled their long-running pay dispute.

Further talks will be held later in the week to try to improve industrial relations in the Royal Mail following a series of wildcat strikes.

Council workers in London were to be the first to take action, walking out from today for a series of selective strikes over the next two weeks as part of a long-running campaign over London weighting allowances.

School support staff and workers at centres dealing with the homeless were expected to be among Unison members joining the strikes, which were condemned by the Association of London Government.

Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union, who work on the Hammersmith and City line on London Underground, will strike for 24 hours from Thursday evening in protest at the sacking of a driver seen coming out of a squash court while on sick leave.

The strike could be followed by action later in the month across the Tube network in a row over safety.

Baggage handlers and check-in staff working for Swissport at Heathrow irport and employees at the BNFL nuclear reprocessing site at Sellafield in Cumbria will launch strikes at the end of the week in separate disagreements over pay.

The Fire Brigades Union is in dispute with local authority employers over the staging of a pay rise.

The executive has urged employers to pay a seven per cent rise in one go and will decide today what its next move will be after local authority leaders made it clear they would not change their minds.

Monday November 10, 2003