Civil service unrest continues as 100,000 staff down biros

Up
to 100,000 civil servants have begun two days of strikes in separate disputes
over pay.

Staff
in job centres and benefit offices are taking industrial action over the
imposition of a pay offer and the introduction of a new pay performance system,
which the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claims is discriminatory.

The
PCS said it would take the Department for Work and Pensions to the high court
unless it withdrew the introduction of the performance system, arguing that the
unilateral imposition amounted to a breach of contract.

Staff
at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are also staging a one day strike –
the first in the history of the statistics service.

Up
to 4,500 prison service staff have walked out over a pay rise that the PCS says
is below inflation, which amounts to a real terms pay cut for staff.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

Email(Required)

OptOut

From time to time, we will send you emails about selected products, events and services from Personnel Today and OHW+ - but you can choose to opt-out at any time. If you do not wish to receive these emails, please tick this box.

Phone

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Δ

PCS
general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Rather than attempt to try and find
compromise with its workforce dealing with the issue of low pay, management
prefer the bullyboy tactics of imposing divisive bonus schemes and real term
pay cuts."

By Michael Millar