Home Office vote to strike

18 July 2012 Last updated at 17:18 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page

Thousands of staff at the Home Office have voted to go on strike over jobs, pay and other issues, the Public and Commercial Services union has said.

Although dates have not been set, there is the prospect of strikes affecting the London 2012 Olympic Games because Border Agency staff are involved.

The ballot turnout was 20%, with 57.2% of those who voted backing strike action.

Just over 75% backed action short of strike action.

Details of strike dates and what form the industrial action will take are expected on Thursday.

The union said it was in dispute over longstanding issues with the Home Office, including cuts to UK Border Agency staff.

About 16,000 union members were balloted across the Home Office, including in the Border Agency, the Identity and Passport Service and the Criminal Records Bureau.

The PCS said the cuts at the UK Border Agency were continuing "to cause chaos at the borders and queues at airports".

'Undermining public services'

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "We believe [ministers] have acted recklessly and irresponsibly in cutting so many jobs and, in the case of UKBA, they have simply tried to paper over the cracks by deploying severely undertrained staff at our borders.

"If these issues are not resolved, they threaten to seriously undermine the Home Office's ability to provide vital public services, and we cannot sit back and allow that to happen."

This week the National Audit Office said the UK Border Agency had laid off 1,000 more staff than intended and was having to hire extra people and increase overtime to meet its workload.

The union said for its members the wider issues under dispute were: job losses, particularly compulsory redundancies; pay and conditions such as government plans to cap pay increases at 1% for the next two years; and privatisation, such as using private companies to clear up a backlog of immigration and asylum casework in the Border Agency.

The PCS is one of the largest unions in the UK with around 250,000 public sector members.

PCS members at the Department for Transport have been taking industrial action over the past few weeks, while staff in other departments, including the ministries of defence and justice, are set to vote shortly on how to campaign against cuts.

I find it quite disappointing that we have a difficult ecomony that effects everyone's livelihood and yet our union bosses are hellbent on disrupting a showpiece event when our country is on display to the world. Even Little Ed has spoken out about strike action during the Olympics.

Apparently only 1 in 8 at ASLEF voted for a strike but this Union is so hell bent on strikes I think Britain ought to introduce some kind of Legislation,there are some Countries where a cooling off period is compulsory. At this time, with so many unemployed, the World is hovering over
recession , Britain is hosting the lympic Games at a cost to the Taxpayer yet to unravel ....I hope these strikers sleep well.

These Unions seem to be gaining strength again, I agree they needs to be some sort of Legislation with them.....

Bloody union bosses, all they want to do is justify their massive wages

Lillyofthevalley wrote:These Unions seem to be gaining strength again, I agree they needs to be some sort of Legislation with them.....

Bloody union bosses, all they want to do is justify their massive wages

Yes, ASLEF in particular is very militant. For working Boxing Day when the shops are relying on Sales the Union demanded triple pay and a day off in Lieu.