HUNDREDS of council workers in Bury are going on strike in a long-running dispute over changes to their pensions.

Services from school meals to social work and refuse collection will be hit after trade unionists voted by four to one to walk out on March 28.

The one-day national action is likely to be followed by a rolling series of stoppages, on a regional or job-related basis, and may include the local elections on May 4.

Leaders of the union Unison are angry that other public servants, such as teachers, fire, police and NHS staff, who are existing members of their pension schemes have been given protection from changes.

Steve Morton, branch secretary of Bury Unison, said: "We've gone a long way to make compromises and meet the employers in the middle, but they've said that's not enough. Suddenly someone's telling you that what you have been paying into for 30 years you are not going to get."

Guy Berry, director of personnel at Bury Council, said the authority had contingency plans to protect services such as home care, and old folks' homes.