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Council workers in parts of Kent enter a second day of a national strike today in protest over a pay offer.

Unison members from Medway, Gravesham, Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks will be out protesting about the Government's national pay rise offer of 2.45 per cent.

Most Kent councils negotiate pay at local level and have opted out of the national pay bargaining scheme.

In Medway workers were out on the streets in protest.

KentOnline's Sinead Hanna visited the Medway council protest on Wednesday. Watch the video on the right of the screen >>>

Brian Kelly, from the Medway branch of Unison, says the strike shows the strength of feeling among workers.

He said: "It's unfortunate and no one in local government wants to take this action. Some workers will effectively be giving up a full day's earning."

~ Listen to kmfm's interview with Brian Kelly here >>>

The Kent branch of Unison canvassed opinion about taking action, but there was insufficient support for a ballot.

Kent County Council negotiates a separate pay agreement with its employees and awarded staff a 2.5 per cent pay rise this year.

Unison, which wants a six per cent pay rise or an extra 50p an hour, said 250,000 council workers earned less than £6.50 an hour, and most of them were women.

The strike comes the day after inflation reached 3.8 per cent, pushed to its highest level for 11 years by rising fuel and food costs. Public service workers, including social workers, school meals staff, refuse collectors and teaching assistants, will join the strike.

Unison’s regional officer Simon Bolton said the point of the strike was not to shut down services but to draw attention to employees’ frustration and to gather support.

~ Medway strike - day one >>>

Mr Bolton said: "I doubt there will be much disruption – most councils can easily cope with two days of strikes, even with 99 per cent of our members turning out, without a huge impact on services."

Dave Prentis, the union's general secretary, said his members were fed up and angry that they were expected to accept "pay cut after pay cut while bread and butter prices go through the roof".