PCS escalate targeted strike action with Budget Day walkout.
In an escalation of targeted strike action, 100,000 civil servants will stage a walkout on Budget Day, 15 March.
Members in 123 government departments across England and Wales will strike, with more members set to join following upcoming ballot results.
If the ballots are successful, a further 33,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) will also take part in the coordinated day of strike action.
Striking civil servants are calling for a 10% pay rise, better pensions, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms.
Civil servants have seen their salaries fall by between 12% and 23% in real terms since 2010 as their wages battle against increased inflation.
Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary, said members are ‘angry and determined’ as Rishi Sunak continues to ignore their demands, which has led to their escalation of industrial action.
“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,” Serwotka said.
“PCS members are suffering a completely unacceptable decline in their pay.”
One third of HMRC staff will be earning minimum wage by April, whilst 40,000 civil servants have had to use a foodbank.
Serwotka added that Sunak could ‘end this dispute tomorrow’ if he offered a fair pay deal, otherwise further industrial action is inevitable.
More pickets than ever, 500, were recorded on PCS’s all-members strike on February 1st, and in areas that had never previously had organised pickets.
Ellie Clarke, a Civil Servant in the Cabinet Office told LFF she was on strike because she felt workers had been left with ‘no choice’.
Half her salary went on her rent whist other members she spoke to whilst organising the ballot were crying over the phone worrying how they would feed their children.
The PCS are using a sustained action strategy which targets certain areas where they can exert significant pressure on the government, supplemented by all-member action to maximise the effect of strikes.
The targeted action includes sectors in Border Force, DVLA, DVSA, DWP and Rural Payments Agency.
PCS staff at the British Museum are taking part in the second wave of action, including museum’s visitor services and security team, who will continue their strike action next week.
Other public sectors set to take part include the DWP in Liverpool, Bolton and Stockport this week and the DVLA, Animal and Plant Health Agency and Border Force next month.
Ballot results for a further 10 employers are due on 28th February which could see a further 33,000 members join the strike on the 15th.
This includes members in HMRC, Care Quality Commission, Companies House, National Museum of Wales, Office of Rail and Road, UK Export Finance, VOA and the Welsh Government.
The day will also coincide with the ongoing NEU teachers strike in England and Wales set to take place on the 15th and 16th March.
PCS strikes: who is striking when
Jobcentre staff Toxteth and Liverpool: February 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28. March 1, 2, 3
Stockport and Bolton DWP: February 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21
British Museum staff: February 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
DVLA: February 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
Border Force officers: February 17, 18, 19, 20
Animal and Plant Health Agency: February 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Hannah Davenport is trade union reporter at Left Foot Forward
(Photo credit: Hannah Davenport)
Left Foot Forward’s trade union reporting is supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust
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