SOCIAL Services staff working in the Alton, Bordon and Petersfield areas came out on strike on Wednesday for the first time in 23 years.
They joined local government employees across the country in a bid to secure Òfair payÓ.
According to senior steward for the Transport & General Workers Union (T&G), Richard Bambridge, the decision to take industrial action followed a ballot of the three local government unions - T&G, Unison and GMB, which showed a strong majority in favour of standing out for a 6 per cent pay rise and a minimum wage of £11,000.
The one-day strike affected services across the board. In Alton pickets were out at HCC Day Services in Chawton Park Road and at Social Services HQ at Park House - the base for social workers, occupational therapists and clerical staff serving the Alton, Ropley, Liss, Grayshott, Bordon/Whitehill and Liphook area.
Social Services staff were running an emergency service, however, with the vulnerable a priority - child care, mental health and care for the elderly, with staff at HCC run homes such a Marlfield and Whitedown Special School continuing to work.
Other areas hit by strike action included home care, some schools which were closed due to action by caretaking staff, environmental health, housing, planning, transport - including traffic wardens, refuse collection, catering and cleaning.
Described as Òthe forgotten army of the low paidÓ, the strikersÕ action was designed to highlight the need for local government to invest in fair pay in order to deliver quality local services.
ÒTwo thirds of the local government workforce earn less than the average allowance paid to council leaders, which is £12,403,Ó pointed out Mr Bambridge.
First and foremost the dispute is about low pay. While the national basic average wage stands at £19,046, two-thirds of council employees earn less than £13,044. And 277,000 employees across the country, 90 per cent of whom are part-time women, earn less than £5 an hour.
The gender gap is a sensitive issue. Women in local government earn just 66 per cent of male workersÕ weekly earnings, a yawning gap of 34 per cent.
ÒThose working at the coal face - the carers, clerks and cleaners, tend to be women and they are the worst paid. These are the people we are really fighting for,Ó said Mr Bambridge.
He added that in Hampshire they had suffered a double blow from the growing divide between frontline workers and management. While the lowest paid are being offered a three per cent increase HCC has agreed, for the second year running, to award its managers five per cent.
ÒThree per cent of very little is nothing - five per cent of a decent salary is worth having and serves to increase the divide,Ó points out the shop steward.
In addition, Hampshire - and the Alton and Petersfield areas in particular, are among those where soaring house prices require an average income of at least £30,000 in order to buy an average-priced home.
Speaking from the Park House picket line, Richard Bambridge stressed that while taking action as a last resort his members had not abandoned their responsibilities to the people they serve.
ÒOur members will not put at risk life or limb. We care, even if the council does not. We have no alternative but to strike. But we know the public will be with us. The community values public servants, even if the council does not.Ó