Strikes affect government offices
Civil servants joined the picket line in Hemel Hempstead for a two day national strike over threats to their redundancy benefits.
The PCS union called the action on Monday and Tuesday to try to get the government to talk to it over proposals the strikers say could slash redundancy pay and make it cheaper to sack people under looming public spending cuts.
"Someone over 50 years-old on 30,000 with 20 years' service could lose 30,000 from their redundancy benefits," PCS union rep Jon Gamble told Hemeltoday.co.uk outside Hempstead House, in Selden Hill on Monday. "The agreement was negotiated with the government of Margaret Thatcher, who wasn't a fan of the unions."
Employees at Hempstead House work for the Department of Communities and Local Government, carrying out back office functions for the fire service and councils among others.
The strikers fear their services are being prepared for privatisation after the next election when the government starts to tackle the national finance deficit.
Mr Gamble said the action was supported by about three-quarters of the workforce, a higher level than in previous disputes over pay. He said: "People have been joining the union to go on strike. Younger workers have been signing up, too because they can see what's coming."
Mr Gamble added that he recognised people would be inconvenienced because of the strike, which also includes workers at courts, tax offices, job centres and on driving tests. He said: "There's no escaping the fact that services will be affected but it is a fight for our jobs and the future of these services."
The strikers drew comparisons with the banking sector, which the government had bailed out in the recent crisis, and low paid public workers who would be asked to bear the brunt of cuts to pay for hand outs to the finance industry.
Mr Gamble said he thought the dispute would snowball to include other public sector workers, including people in local government, schools and the health service, who were already starting to be affected by cut backs.
"I think these disputes will go on and on and on," warned Mr Gamble. More strikes could happen every week during March.
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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