Two-week strike announced at Met Police
After threats from management, over 300 members will take full strike action instead of the previously notified action short of a strike.
Civilian staff working for the Metropolitan Police will take two weeks of strike action after management threatened to dock their wages if they took action short of a strike.
PCS members had voted to take action short of a strike in the form of non-compliance with the new attendance policy on which the dispute is based. However management threatened to deduct a full day’s pay for any day on which a member of staff worked from home when they had been instructed to attend the office.
PCS has therefore announced that more than 300 members in Referencing and Vetting will stop work from February 4 – 17.
The strike action is likely to impact on backroom functions of the police force, specifically updating the National Crime Database and clearing people through vetting.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “This hardline approach by Met Police managers has been completely counter-productive, effectively escalating the dispute.
“Our members take their jobs very seriously and didn’t want to disrupt the important work they do, but now they feel their hands have been forced because if they’ll lose pay when they’re not striking, they felt they might as well lose pay for striking.
“Instead of pouring fuel on the fire by punishing our members for exercising their democratic right to take industrial action, managers should talk to us and try to resolve the issue.”