Prospect civil service union members will take strike action on 10th May and 7th June. The vote by 32,000 members was in favour of taking strike action and action short of a strike as part of a dispute with civil service and public sector employers over pay, head-count reduction and the threat to redundancy terms.
The PCS (Public and Commercial Services union) strike on Fri 28 April will another of the largest civil service strikes for years and signals a significant escalation of industrial action after a month of strikes over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.
As the cost-of-living crisis worsens, with inflation at nearly 11%, members are saying they’ve had enough of being treated appallingly. Our campaign is for a 10% pay rise, pensions justice, job security and no cuts in redundancy terms. Four picket lines tbc:
PCS DWP Black Country branch picket lines@
Molineux House Job Centre, Temple Street, Wolverhampton WV2 4AU 7.30am-10am
Bilston Job Centre, High Street, Bilston, WV14 0BN 7.30am-10am
PCS Department for Levelling Up Housing & Communities branch picket line @
i9, Wolverhampton Interchange, Railway Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 1LG 7am-10.30am
all-member strike action was taken on Wed 15 March. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Rishi Sunak doesn’t seem to understand that the more he ignores our members’ demands for a pay rise to get them through the cost-of-living crisis, the more angry and more determined he makes them. PCS members are suffering a completely unacceptable decline in their pay.
“By April, one-third of HMRC staff, for example, will be earning just the minimum wage. 40,000 civil servants have used a food bank. It’s an appalling way for the government to treat its own workforce.
“Rishi Sunak can end this dispute tomorrow if he puts more money on the table. If he refuses to do that, more action is inevitable.”
We have carried out sustained action in targeted areas which is building pressure on the employer in the Border Force, RPA, DVSA, DVLA, National Highways and DWP.
The action will be coordinated with other unions taking action, as well as the launch by the TUC of a campaign over pay and jobs, which will include events in several UK cities.
Industrial action is a last resort. But so far, the government has refused to discuss our demands. 100,000 PCS members took strike action on 1 February to increase the pressure on the government. It coincided with the TUC’s ‘protect the right to strike’ day announced yesterday.
