Civil servants back strike action over pay

The government is facing a winter of disruption to public services as hundreds of thousands of civil servants today backed national industrial action for at least three months over pay.

The move by members of the Public and Commercial Services union heralds industrial action across government departments and agencies, including courts, coastguards and immigration centres.

As the country prepares for a rising unemployment toll in the face of the credit crunch, jobcentre staff who help people find jobs and secure social benefit will also be among the staff who walk out.

The union, which represents 270,000 workers in the UK, said 54% of those taking part in the ballot backed industrial action.

The union’s executive will meet next Thursday to decide dates for a programme of industrial action which could last for the rest of the year.

The union said the yes vote came as civil servants faced mounting pressure on their finances because of the government’s 2% pay cap.

Mark Serwotka, its general secretary, said: “With a quarter of the civil service earning less than £16,500 and thousands earning just above the minimum wage, the government’s policy of capping public sector pay has hit some of the lowest paid in the public sector the hardest, leading to real-terms pay cuts and pay freezes.

Serwotka said his members felt “betrayed” by ministers.

“Pay freezes and real-terms pay cuts are simply not sustainable when you are earning a pittance and experiencing double-digit rises in food, fuel and housing costs. Bailing out bankers should not be at the expense of those who deliver public services or those who rely on them.

He added: “The government have a window of opportunity to avert industrial action and to recognise that their public-sector pay cap is compounding the financial misery of hardworking families in these unstable economic times.”

The PCS has held a series of pay strikes this year which have hit jobcentres, passports, immigration and coastguards across the UK, as well as the Scottish courts service and museums.