A gathering between civil servants’ unions and the federal government was a “complete farce” so they are going to go forward with their strike, union leaders stated.
On Wednesday, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union introduced its 100,000 members, from 124 authorities departments, will strike on 1 February over pay, jobs and situations.
It would be the largest civil service strike for years, after some sectors took motion over Christmas, and coincides with the TUC’s “protect the right to strike day” introduced on Tuesday in response to newly proposed authorities laws.
There was hope a gathering between the PCS, the FDA union and the Prospect union and Cabinet Office Minister Jeremy Quin on Thursday would stave off motion nevertheless it broke down with none settlement so the strike will go forward.
Union leaders meet with ministers – dwell politics updates
The PCS union is looking for a ten% pay rise, protections to pensions and protections from job cuts.
Mark Serwotka, PCS common secretary, stated: “This meeting was a total farce. Despite being well-trailed by the government as a chance to resolve the crisis, it was nothing of the sort because the minister had nothing to offer.
“He did not deny our members have been being supplied lower than anybody else, he did not deny tens of 1000’s of our members solely get a pay rise due to the rise within the nationwide minimal wage however he refused to provide us a pay rise now.”
He added that regardless of the specter of strikes, Mr Quin “still refused to budge” once they wished to speak about pay for this monetary 12 months, which ends in April, and “could only talk about 2023-24”.
“We will not stand by and watch our members be condemned to low pay. We’ve tried talking but it appears the only option open to us is to force them to change their mind, and the only way we can do that is to escalate our strike action.
“Because of the minister’s refusal to assist us now, the one-day strike we introduced yesterday will go forward as promised on 1 February, and we will look to escalate our motion additional, calling extra members out on extra strikes till the federal government listens to us.”
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Dave Penman, common secretary of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, stated the talks had been “cordial” however “lacked anything concrete” from the federal government.
He stated that “we could not have been clearer” that if the federal government “want to resolve disputes, which they say they do, then it requires something tangible to be put on the table, not simply more ‘listening mode’ meetings”.
Mike Clancy, common secretary of the Prospect union, stated a proper poll on industrial motion will now go forward as he stated the ministers “refused to offer any more money for 2022/23 and gave no grounds for optimism that the position would be any different in the coming pay year”.
A Cabinet Office spokesman stated the assembly included discussions “to help ensure fair and affordable public sector pay settlements” and so they “regret” the upcoming strike motion however there’s a “comprehensive plan” to maintain important providers working.
The authorities has stated the PCS’ calls for would price £2.4 billion which is unaffordable.
Talks have been additionally held on Thursday between ministers and docs’ unions, in addition to rail unions.
Source: information.sky.com”