Council house repair staff in Stoke-on-Trent have gone on strike again in their continuing dispute over pay and conditions.

The striking Unite members at Stoke-on-Trent City Council manned a picket line at the repairs and maintenance service's Cromer Road depot in Northwood on Monday.

Around 1,000 workers at the city council and six other authorities in England are taking part in the industrial action this week, which follows four days of strikes last month.

Unite has rejected a 3.2 per cent pay offer to local government craftworkers from the National Employers, which it says fails to make up for previous pay freezes and below-inflation increases.

The union has also criticised the removal of apprentices from the national agreement, and a move to job evaluation which it says will not recognise workers' skills and abilities.

One of the striking workers at the Cromer Road picket line said: "This is about protecting our terms and conditions, our pay, protecting our apprentices and our trades."

The Unite branch contacted elected members on the city council to invite them to come to the picket line 'to understand the challenges facing local public services, taxpayers, and working families across the city'.

Craftworkers are also striking at Bristol, Southwark, Newham, Leeds, Babergh and Mid Suffolk councils. Unite members are due to stage a further walkout – the sixth so far – on Wednesday, with a demonstration set to take place at the Local Government Association's national conference in Bournemouth.

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The union is calling on supporters to email members of the LGA's negotiation team to call on them to meet with Unite and resolve the dispute.

Unite has now launched an action calling on supporters to email prominent members of the LGA negotiation team to meet with Unite and its sister unions in order to resolve the dispute.

The LGA has previously criticised the industrial action, claiming that it would only mean workers having to wait longer for a pay increase.