More than 5,500 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) working for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) are set to strike today over widening pay gaps.
The one-day strike follows an increase in separate pay negotiations in Defra and its executive agencies which has resulted in pay gaps averaging up to £2,010 between people doing similar jobs.
The union is calling for greater pay coherence and one single set of negotiations to cover the whole Defra family to resolve the growing pay inequality.
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The PCS said there will be picket lines across all the main sites of Defra and its agencies including London, Exeter, Bristol, Workington, Newcastle, York and Carlisle.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: “Defra and its executive agencies are a prime example of the unfair and farcical nature of civil service pay. Members doing the same job have had enough of the growing inequality of pay within the department and its agencies and want to see people doing the same job paid the same rate.”
