Civil servants vote to strike
WORKERS, FEB 2007 ISSUE
Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) members across the civil service have voted for a one day strike on 31 January, followed by other action such as overtime bans. They are protesting against changes in conditions, job losses and reductions in public services. The strike is timed to coincide with the tax return deadline and will affect jobcentres, benefit offices, passport offices, driving tests, courts and museums.
This dispute has been brewing since Gordon Brown announced radical cuts in civil service numbers in the name of modernising public services. For example Revenue & Customs will lose 12,500 jobs by 2008 and a similar number in the following three years. Tax offices will close in many towns too.
PCS wants to get these issues out into the open. It's faced with the government's drive to cut 100,000 civil and public service jobs, widespread use of consultants and below inflation pay offers. And it seems to PCS members that services to the public will diminish rather than improve.
It's easy for any government, especially one under pressure, to appear resolute by attacking the civil service and "cutting red tape". But the game is a tough one; the government's need for cuts is real and not merely window dressing. It's hard to see how it can do that without cooperation from its own workers.
There are difficulties too for the PCS. Its members are fed up with the government: they will not be applauding any ministers, as Treasury staff famously did for Brown in 1987. Over 60 per cent of those voting were in favour of the strike, and more voted for other action. There will be a good turnout for the strike, but support for the future is less certain. Only 36 per cent of the 280,000 members voted – against a background of struggling to maintain membership levels in some areas.
The outcome of the action, other than publicity, is uncertain. The union in effect wants to reverse government policy on job security, pay and outsourcing. Although the Treasury is behind all of this, the PCS has to deal with 200 different departments and organisations – that will take persistence and flexibility.
• Over the ballot period, PCS members heard about job losses and low pay offers in several places. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is to close its London office with a loss of up to 600 jobs. The MOD wants to privatise the training of Britain's armed forces, making up to 2,000 redundant and jeopardising future defence capability. And there are imminent pay disputes in the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) and the Information Commissioner's Office.