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Welsh civil and public servants in 48 hour strike

5 March 2010

Up to 20,000 civil and public servants across Wales are set to take part in a 48 hour strike on 8 and 9 March in a dispute over unilateral changes to redundancy terms.

The strike action, called by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), involves staff from the Assembly government, job centres, law courts, tax offices, driving test centres, Companies House, the Statistics Office, the DVLA, the Passport Office and the Intellectual Property Office, among others. The two day stoppage is a result of the government and Cabinet Office making unilateral changes to the civil service compensation scheme, which governs redundancy pay.

The changes will see staff robbed of up to a third of their entitlements, with loyal civil and public servants set to lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of their jobs. The government is looking to save £500 million through the changes, based on the number of jobs it has axed over the last three years. With all the main political parties planning deep spending cuts, the union fears that the cuts to the scheme will lead to tens of thousands of job losses on the cheap.

Picket lines outside government buildings will be set up from early on Monday 8th March. A rally will be held at the National Museum, Cardiff (11.00 am in the Reardon Smith Lecture Theatre) and in Swansea (starting at 12.00 noon in the Unitarian Church in the High Street).

Commenting, Peter Harris, the PCS Wales secretary, said: “With civil and public service jobs increasingly at risk, this is a cynical attempt to cut jobs on the cheap which will ultimately damage the services we all rely on. The cuts to the redundancy scheme will see loyal civil and public servants lose tens of thousands of pounds if they are forced out of a job.

“The government claims it cannot prevent bankers’ bonuses being paid because they are contractual, but appears happy to rip up the rights of its own workforce and change the law to do so. Yet, in many cases, the bankers’ payouts have been funded out of the public purse, while public sector workers are taking a hit to pay for this. This is Robin Hood in reverse”.

He went on to say: “Strike action is a last resort and we have suggested ways in which the government can make its savings whilst protecting the rights of existing members. The government needs to recognise that it can’t cut jobs on the cheap and reach a negotiated settlement that protects existing members’ rights.”


 

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