Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said the initial action at the Home Office, the Department for Transport and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would involve “low thousands” of the 100,000 members who backed strike action in a recent vote. But he said the strikes would be tailored to cause maximum disruption to public services, including passport and border controls, driving tests and farm payments, throughout the Christmas period. “I hope people can travel over Christmas without disruption, but that’s down to Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt,” he said, calling on ministers to put more money on the table to resolve the dispute. Some of the staff involved will take “short bursts” of action, while others will be off work for the entire month-long period, he said. Civil servants represented by PCS have been offered a 2% pay rise. Serwotka said many are claiming benefits and even turning to food banks. In Thursday’s autumn statement, Hunt stuck to previous spending plans for most departments despite soaring inflation, leaving little room for more generous pay deals. Serwotka said the PCS would step up its action in the coming months unless the government accepted its members’ demands for a 10% pay rise, a reversal of cuts to redundancy payments and an agreement on job security. “We have a mandate here for six months of industrial action – that’s what the law allows. Our proposals are that this will be an escalating action starting from that,” he said. The union said it would not discuss specific dates or locations, to avoid helping the government prepare what Servotka called “strike” plans. With teachers currently voting on strike action and nurses already backing strikes, Serwotka said there was a growing possibility of concerted action in the new year across different sectors. “I think you’re going to see escalation within the public service, but you’re also going to see escalation on a much broader basis unless something changes,” he said. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Public sector wages are growing at an average annual rate of 2.2 percent, compared with 6.6 percent in the private sector, increasing pressure on the government to find more resources to recruit and retain staff in key services. A government spokesman said: “We regret this decision. We greatly value the work of public servants across the country, but the demands of the PCS union will cost an unsustainable £2.4 billion at a time when our focus should be on reducing inflation to ease the pressure on households across the country , to protect the vulnerable and rebuild our economy. Discussions will continue but we can provide reassurance that we have comprehensive plans in place to keep essential services running and minimize disruption should these PCS strikes take place.”
