The majority of secondary schools in Denbighshire and Flintshire will be closed on Wednesday as council staff strike in a row over pay.

The 24-hour walkout will be the first by local authority workers in Britain since the 'winter of discontent' in 1979.

If the three unions had exempted all schools from the strike action they would not have been affected

Eryl Williams Council Leader

Schools in other areas of Wales, including Caerphilly and Neath Port Talbot, will also be closed because of the action by ancillary staff.

However, schools in Wrexham will be open as normal.

Members of the UK's biggest union Unison, the Transport and General Workers Union(TGWU) and GMB are campaigning for a better pay deal.

Workers have been offered a three per cent pay increase but it has been rejected.

Staff, some of whom earn £4.80 an hour, are seeking a rise of six per cent.

Ten high schools will be closed in Flintshire, Castell Alun in Hope will be open for Year 10 pupils only.

Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn in Denbigh and Ysgol Tir Morfa in Rhyl will be open as normal.

Ysgol Plas Brondyffryn will remain open

Both are special schools.

Denbighshire County Council decided to close its secondary and primary schools over health and safety concerns.

Council chiefs said they could not guarantee basic services such as school meals and transport to school would be provided for youngsters.

Council Leader Eryl Williams said: "I appreciate that this decision will cause inconvenience to parents and to employers for whom many of them work.

Industrial action

"If the three unions had exempted all schools from the strike action they would not have been affected."

He added: "The unions chose not to do so and have made the problem worse for us."

Schools in the county will still remain open for staff.

Chief Executive Ian Miller said pay would be deducted from those who failed to arrive.

"The council tax payers of Denbighshire expect that we should pay staff only if they turn up for work or have a good cause for absence," he said.

The one day strike on 17 July is to be followed by further industrial action during the summer.