Workers across Brighton and Hove today threatened to back a two-day strike by teaching assistants.

The industrial action starting tomorrow is expected to cause chaos throughout the city.

Binmen and other union members are warning they could carry out wildcat strikes in a show of solidarity.

More than 9,000 children are likely to be turned away from their school gates tomorrow and Friday, leaving many working parents struggling to find childcare.

Pickets and protests outside schools and council offices have been planned to add to the disruption of the strike, over a bitter pay dispute.

Officials from the GMB union say half the primary and infant schools in the city will be forced to close.

Binmen at Cityclean, Brighton and Hove City Council's in-house refuse service, who belong to the GMB, have also threatened to take strike action in support.

Teaching staff who belong to the National Union of Teachers have been urged individually to refuse to cross picket lines.

Some are threatening to take unofficial strike action but it is unclear how many would join the picket lines.

Union officials have also called for children, parents, teachers and strikers to protest outside a full council meeting from 3pm tomorrow.

This will follow early-morning picket lines by teaching assistants when thousands of leaflets are to be handed out to parents.

A demonstration has been called for 9am, when staff hope to march from Brighton Town Hall to the council offices at Kings House in Grand Avenue, Hove.

The march has yet to be agreed with police, as it could bring traffic to a standstill.

Unison branch secretary Alex Knutson confirmed the main pickets would take place at Varndean Secondary School in Balfour Road, Brighton, and Hangleton Junior School in Dale View, Hove, where teaching staff will be urged not to cross.

He said: "This strike action is absolutely going ahead. We have had no approach from the council with another offer so it's definitely happening.

"We believe now that half the primary, infant and junior schools will be closed while units in the secondary schools will also be affected, which will make it very difficult for them to operate.

"The feedback we are getting from our stewards is there is a hell of a lot of sympathy for this dispute.

"We are not asking people to take secondary industrial action but we expect many council employers to join the protests when they can."

Mark Turner, chairman of the GMB council branch, confirmed members working at Cityclean were threatening to walk out but said he could not condone any unofficial action.

He said: "Teaching assistants have proved they are essential to the running of the school -- gone are the days when they washed up paint pots.

"We told the council their latest offer was a bribe and our members would not accept it.

"Fewer people wanted to accept this offer than those who voted against strike action in the original ballot."

Asked about strike action by binmen, he said: "They are a law unto themselves in Cityclean - they have shown their full support as they know that what happens here will affect them. They are looking over their shoulders.

"This industrial action will have reverberations around the whole of the city."

One GMB member who works with Cityclean said: "The talk is of stoppage on Thursday and people have been very forthright about it.

"We are solidly behind the teaching assistants and have a lot of sympathy with them. We know how this council treats people.

"There will be text messages and phone calls going around and we are solid in that we want to take strike action. The only thing I can see making them stop the action is retribution from management."

Council leader Ken Bodfish reacted angrily to the union announcement that protests and pickets would be held.

He said: "They are already disrupting the children's education which is significant enough, so I hope they will not disrupt everyone else as they go about their business.

"I am anxious for the children and anxious for working parents who depend on the schools and assume they can go to work but now find they must find childcare.

"The knock-on effects of this strike will be quite considerable. It's a very selfish act by the trade unions to affect children in this way."

Ray Knight, acting head teacher at Uplands School in Lynchet Close, Brighton, said his older pupils would be sent home for study leave.

Children at the school have learning difficulties and he said: "Teaching assistants play a big part in a school like this and we run training for people from other schools.

"Their pay has dropped considerably and they deserve an increase in their salary."

Barbara Shackell, head teacher at Rudyard Kipling Primary School in Chalkland Rise, Brighton, denied union claims her school would shut down and said only one learning support assistant would strike.

She said: "We will not be closing. We will be able to hold all lessons as usual."

One parent who trained as a teaching assistant said: "This strike will inconvenience parents and carers and our children will lose out on education.

"But I fail to see how teaching assistants pay mortgages and bills on the wages they receive.

"Of course I would prefer them not to strike because my child has lost his right to be educated.

"The council will just have to pay a decent wage and it may stop future strikes."