A QUARTER of a million civil servants are to join striking teachers for a mass walkout across the UK on June 30th, bringing schools, colleges, universities, courts, ports and job centres to a halt.
Up to 750,000 state employees are expected to take part in the strike, over the government’s pension reforms, after members of the Public and Commercial Services union voted by 61.1 per cent in favour of strikes, and by 83.6 per cent for other forms of industrial action, on a turnout of 32.4 per cent.
Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the union, said the action was principally against cuts but also against the coalition government’s public service reforms.
“The clear majority in favour of a strike shows that public servants, who provide vital services across the country, are not prepared to stand back while everything they have ever worked for is taken from them,” he said.
“The government claims this is about rebalancing pensions, but it has already admitted that the money it saves will go straight to the treasury to help pay off the deficit in what amounts to nothing more than a tax on working in the public sector.”
Cabinet office minister Francis Maude has repeatedly called on the unions to await the outcome of the pensions talks that are currently under way before striking, calling those going ahead with industrial action “irresponsible and wrong”.
He said: “What today’s ballot result shows is that, among PCS members, there is extremely limited support for the kind of strike action their leaders want.
Prime minister David Cameron’s official spokesman said the government wanted “an open and constructive dialogue” with unions. The spokesman said ministers were keeping “under review” the question of whether laws on industrial disputes should be tightened, but did not, at present, see a “compelling case” for change.
The National Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the Universities and College Union have all said they will strike this month.
It also emerged yesterday that a second head teachers’ union, the Association of School and College Leaders, was also moving towards a ballot for strike action.
Nearly every major public sector union has now indicated that it is likely to ballot on industrial action once the talks conclude this summer. Insiders say negotiations are all but at a stalemate, with ministers and unions failing to agree on even basic principles.
It means there could be rolling strike action across the public sector in the autumn, which could profoundly disrupt the work of the state. – (Guardian service)