PCS industrial action escalated at ONS
PCS members at the Office For National Statistics have stepped up their long-running dispute over a forced return to workplaces by instigating a zero-office attendance policy and increasing their use of work to rule.
More than 1200 members began the escalation with immediate effect on 25 July, while the branch considers next steps in the use of its mandate to use strike action.
In a ballot which ended on 31 March, members voted for strike action with 68% of ONS members taking part voting to take strike action while 91% voted to take action short of a strike (ASOS), on a 71% turnout.
PCS members have been in dispute with ONS since April 2024 over changes to the hybrid working policies and have since held three statutory ballots on a programme of continuous industrial action involving non-compliance with mandated office attendance targets and working to rule.
The PCS ONS Branch has been placing pressure on the interim ONS senior management to engage with us after a growing number of ONS members have reported managers attempting to force attendance based on wafer-thin “business requirements” to undermine our action short of a strike (ASOS) that has restored working autonomy to members.
Damning parliamentary inquiry
Last month, the chair of a parliamentary select committee described a now former national statistician as a hybrid of “a Medici prince and Blofeld”, and senior ONS governance structures referred to as a “boosterish chumocracy”, run like a “Tudor court”.
These extraordinary observations were made as part of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee (PACAC) inquiry into the performance of the UK Statistics Authority and its executive offices, hot on the heels of the Devereaux Review into performance and culture at the ONS. In part staff will have felt vindicated and relieved, having provided a good deal of evidence to both inquiries about deep-rooted and wide-spread concerns that are now surfacing with the hope of things improving, and they will have been saddened to see the department’s reputation so badly damaged by these gross failures of senior management.
This dispute is symptomatic of the wider issues covered by the PACAC inquiry, from the crass introduction of the new policy to ONS management’s unwillingness to engage in meaningful talks to find a resolution.
PCS ONS National Branch Chair Emma Campbell said: “The issues highlighted at PACAC have had a serious and damaging impact on industrial relations at ONS. Things are moving quickly with a new permanent secretary having now been appointed and we will continue to demand ONS work with us towards a negotiated settlement to bring this dispute to an end."