Tens of thousands of civil service workers are to hold a one-day strike on 10 November.
The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) announced the first stages of a programme of national industrial action across public services in protest at the government’s public sector pay cap. As many as 200,000 workers could walkout, the PCS claimed.
The union urged the government to come to the negotiating table to avoid strike action and review its public sector pay cap of 2%.
The one-day strike, which will be followed by an overtime ban throughout the Civil Service, comes as civil and public servants across the UK face mounting pressure on their finances as a result of the economic crisis.
Departments hit by the action will include the Home Office, HM Revenue & Customs, Ministry of Justice and Department for Work and Pensions.
This year has already seen pay strikes hit jobcentres, passports, immigration and coastguards across England, as well as strikes in Scotland.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “There is a three-week opportunity to avoid damaging industrial action, where the government can pay heed to the Bank of England’s warning on the economic consequences that the squeeze on wages is having.”
