The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has confirmed that Friday’s civil service strike will go ahead after attempts to halt it in the High Court were dismissed.
The action is part of an ongoing trade union movement to block government plans to cut 100,000 civil and public service jobs. It is set to involve staff across 160 government departments, agencies and non-departmental government bodies.
The Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which has itself cut 800 jobs, attempted to block the strike, but instead had costs awarded against it after failing to halt the strike on 5 November through an injunction in the high court.
The court dismissed the LSC’s argument that there wasn’t a dispute and that it was not part of the civil service, as its parent department was the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), and LSC staff are members of the civil service pension scheme.
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PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said the LSC’s actions were a waste of taxpayers’ money, and would motivate union members to take strike action on Friday.
The PCS claims the strike will affect 2,000 LSC staff.
