TRADE union strikes later this month are set to cause “unprecedented” closures of schools, libraries, council offices and health services.

Union leaders last night predicted more than 15,000 Oxfordshire workers could join the mass walkout over pensions on Wednesday, November 30, in the biggest wave of industrial action for 85 years.

Unite, the GMB and Ucatt yesterday announced their members would join the Day of Action, and tomorrow teaching union the NASUWT will announce the result of its ballot.

If its members follow the National Union of Teachers (NUT), the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), and the National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) in backing strikes, teachers predict the “vast majority” of county schools will have to close.

NUT assistant secretary Gawain Little said: “A lot of people are making comparisons to the 1926 General Strike, when we had a million and a quarter people out. This time we are potentially looking at three million. In that sense, it is unprecedented.”

On June 30, 154 of Oxfordshire’s 282 state schools were closed or partly closed when the NUT and ATL went on strike.

If NASUWT members join heads, administrative staff, caretakers and dinner ladies in joining the campaign, almost all of Oxfordshire’s schools may have to keep the gates locked.

Under money-saving measures proposed by the Coalition, public sector employees will be asked to work for longer and pay more into their pensions, but their retirement package would be reduced.

A new Government offer, promising to protect pensions of members 10 years from retirement and providing extra support for the lowest paid workers, was rejected by unions.

Ministers say the cost of public sector pensions are rising, putting pressure on frontline services and taxes, but unions say their pensions schemes are in surplus and are being raided.

Mr Little said strikes by up to 23 unions and professional bodies could force the Government to back down.

Council employees, civil servants, maintenance staff, librarians, bin men, Police Community Support Officers, court staff, probation workers, physiotherapists, radiographers, and nurses are among those set to strike on November 30.

Unions have pledged that emergency services will not be affected.

Unite’s 2,000 Oxfordshire members include MoD workers, hospital staff, midwives and council staff.

Unison, which represents 10,000 Oxfordshire public sector workers in the NHS, police and councils, said the “vast majority” of its members were preparing to strike.

Regional organiser Steve Waite said: “All the major sites and all the major employers in the dispute will be covered by pickets.

“The message is coming back to us that the vast majority of members will take action.”

Mark Ladbrooke, of Oxfordshire Unison health branch, said despite deep anger, there was “a degree of hesitation” among NHS workers who have never gone on strike before.

Oxford Radcliffe Trust spokesman Heather Barnett said: “We are, our course, monitoring the situation and talking to local union representatives so that we can amend our contingency plans.

Thames Valley Police said there would be no impact on front line policing.

Three simultaneous marches through Oxford of education, health and council workers are being planned, followed by a rally in Broad Street.

lsloan@oxfordmail.co.uk