Ministry of Defence employees vote over strike action

Around 20,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) began voting today in an indicative ballot for industrial action over job cuts and privatisation.

With more than 20,000 MoD jobs under threat, the PCS has joined forces with fellow MoD trade unions - civil service union FDA, professionals' union Prospect, Amicus, the GMB, Transport and General Workers' union and construction union Ucatt - in balloting their members.

The indicative ballot comes as the MoD seek to axe 14,000 civilian posts across the country in areas including aviation repair, army repair, defence logistics and the defence supply chain.

Massive privatisation of key areas of defence worth billions of pounds is also planned, including defence training and IT, the union said.

Whilst the indicative ballot won't commit staff to industrial action, it is being viewed as a significant step by a workforce that has taken very little strike action in recent years. Any industrial action would be subject to a further ballot.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "In this significant step members are being urged to support the union as it works with other MoD trade unions in stepping up its campaign against privatisation and job cuts."