Around 100,000 civil servants will strike on 1 February in a worsening dispute over pay, jobs and circumstances, the Public and Commercial Services union has introduced.
It would be the largest civil service strike for years and coincides with the TUC’s “protect the right to strike day” introduced yesterday in response to new authorities laws.
The motion will contain members in 124 authorities departments and follows walkouts final month involving Border Force workers, driving examiners and National Highways staff.
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PCS basic secretary Mark Serwotka hinted on the prospect of coordinated strike motion with different unions on the identical day, telling Sky News: “I think as long as the government retains its position of refusing to put money on the table, we will see more and more cooperation and coordination between unions. I don’t believe we will be the only union on strike on 1 February.”
The PCS union is looking for a ten% pay rise, protections to pensions and protections from job cuts.
“We warned the government our dispute would escalate if they did not listen – and we’re as good as our word,” Mr Serwotka mentioned.
He accused the federal government of “treating its own workforce worse than anyone else in the economy”.
“We’ve been given a 2% pay rise. We’ve been told tens of thousands of jobs are going to be slashed, our conditions are going to be cut. And we represent people who deliver public services from cradle to grave.”
The authorities estimates the union’s pay calls for will value £2.4bn which they are saying isn’t inexpensive at a time when public funds are stretched.
But the PCS boss mentioned: “That’s the way of the government trying to avoid a sensible argument. We believe that if you get less than the rate of inflation, you’re actually poorer for going to work at the end of the year than you were at the start of the year and that can’t be right.”
He added: “Even if it’s true that it was to cost £2.4bn, that is a tiny fraction the Conservative government was prepared to borrow to give tax cuts to the richest in this country. So the government knows it can afford it.
“It is aware of in the event that they gave us a pay rise, our members will spend it of their native financial system, boosting manufacturing and the hospitality sector at a time of recession, not like the wealthy who keep away from paying taxes and put their cash within the Cayman Islands. So it is smart for the financial system and it is smart to make sure that civil servants are working however are in poverty.”
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Thousands of workers across the NHS, travel, education and postal sectors are continuing to strike over pay and conditions in the face of soaring inflation.
The disputes have reached a bitter deadlock, with ministers insisting they can’t afford to give pay rises and unions saying they have no choice to strike as the cost of living bites.
Mr Serwotka revealed he is meeting with Cabinet Office minister Jeremy Quinn tomorrow and said “if he places some cash on the desk there’s a likelihood this dispute may be resolved”.
“If he does not, then he’ll see public providers from advantages to driving exams, from passports to driving licences, from ports to airports affected by industrial motion on February 1,” he added.
The PCS mentioned an additional 33,000 members working in 5 extra departments, together with HM Revenue & Customs, are subsequent week re-balloting to hitch the union’s nationwide strike motion.
It comes as ambulance staff staged a contemporary spherical of strikes immediately throughout England and Wales, with one other day of motion deliberate for later this month.
Nurses are additionally resulting from walkout once more on 18 and 19 January after talks with the well being secretary to forestall the motion earlier this week broke down.
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Pat Cullen, the chief of the RCN union behind the strike motion, urged the federal government to come back again to the desk and negotiate a wage improve.
She urged a one-off fee to workers wouldn’t be sufficient to resolve the dispute.
This is one thing Downing Street is claimed to be contemplating, however Ms Cullen informed Sky’s Sophy Ridge: “Whatever is put to me needs to be significant, it needs to have long term thinking and long term investment.
“A one off, unwell thought by means of repay is not going to do that, however lets get to the negotiating desk and discuss what may resolve this for our nursing workers.”
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Rail unions have additionally warned an finish to the dispute is a “long way off” with one accusing the federal government of “sabotage” in its negotiations.
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On Tuesday, the federal government put ahead new laws for “minimum safety levels” when staff stage walkouts.
But unions have vowed to combat the legal guidelines “every step of the way”, saying they’re an assault on the appropriate to strike and could possibly be unlawful.
Source: information.sky.com”
