Friday, January 13, 2023, at 2:07 PM
After talks with the government, the strike of 100,000 civil servants will continue next month. The talks were aimed at resolving a bitter dispute about wages, job conditions and conditions.
Jeremy Quinn, Cabinet Office minister met union leaders in order to discuss the mounting industrial unrest following weeks of stopspages across the country. This includes by Border Force staff over Christmas.
The unions stated that more money would be needed to prevent an increase in strikes.
Mark Sirotka, general secretary of the Confederation of Public and Commercial Services (PCS), said: “This meeting was a complete farce. The minister did not have anything to offer, even though the government was far behind.
“He didn’t deny that our members were being offered less than everyone else, he didn’t deny that tens of thousands of our members only got a pay rise because of the national minimum wage hike, but he refused to give us a pay raise now.
“Despite everything we said to him, even though he knew the alternative would be a sustainable industrial strike, he still refused to budge, saying he could only talk about 2023-24.
We won’t stand by and allow our members to be sentenced for low wages.
This meeting was a total farce. The Minister did not have anything to offer, even though it was delayed by the government to help resolve the crisis.
Mark Sirotka
“We have tried to talk but it seems the only option we have is to force them to change their mind and the only way we can do that is to escalate our strike.
“Because Minister has now refused help us, yesterday’s one-day strike will continue as promised on the 1st February. We will look at stepping up our action further, calling for more strikes so the government will take us seriously.”
Ture, Deputy Prime Minister, ridiculed striking civil servants by saying “no one will notice”. He also asked them if they were going on strike since they were still working at home.
Dave Penman, general Secretary of the FDA union, which represents senior civil servants, said that the talks were cordial but did not yield any concrete results from the government.
He stated that “we couldn’t have been clearer” that if the government wants to resolve disputes, as they claim, it needs something concrete on the table and not just ‘listening-style meetings”.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The Cabinet Office minister, Jeremy Cowen, has met representatives from the civil service TradeUnions are now required to listen to and address their concerns. This is part the government’s commitment of engaging with unions across all sectors.
Discussions on assistance were part of the meeting. Ensure fair and affordable settlements of public sector wages.
“We regret PCS calling a second strike. However, discussions will continue. We have extensive plans in place to keep essential services operating and minimize disruption.”
Mike Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, said: “I asked the minister whether the government plans to continue to cut wages in real terms for civil servants as it has done for the past decade or more.
In his answers, Minister refused to provide additional funds for 2022/23. He also stated that there was no reason to believe that the situation will change in the next payment period.
Evidently, civil servants are still at the bottom of the public sector pay queue. We have no other choice than to continue with the official strike ballot.
“As a union our door is always open to meaningful conversations but that means there must be more money on the table. My colleagues and I have offered to clear our notes next week for negotiations with the minister if the government is willing to change its position.”
Rail and NHS still at a standstill
Other talks were also held to resolve disputes at the NHS or railways. These are in the context of ongoing strikes which have caused disruption in certain parts of the country.
The Doctors’ Union leader described the meeting with Steve Barclay, Health Minister, as “constructive”.
The BMA Council chair, Professor Philip Banfield told reporters that the meeting went as planned. We entered the meeting to discuss the wage review and left the meeting having set up our booth and explaining how the NHS is doing. The pay dispute with junior doctors needed to be addressed in some way. To fully address wage recovery.”
When asked about their call for a return to 2008 wage levels, which would be 26%, he stated that “26% is a lot for your paycheck to lose, so even though this is a lot of cash, it’s still a lot we’re going down.”
“We have junior doctors who are struggling financially now as they qualify with £100,000 in debt.
“What was?” Build today was get ready to listen And getting into the room and discussing what a wage refund might or might not look like.”
From The Rail Delivery Group met with the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the Transport Employees Union A new attempt is made to break the deadlock in the railway dispute.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper expressed hope for a breakthrough within “days”, as he confirmed that a renewed offer was on the table.
Unions have made it clear that they require a new offer of wages and jobs before the dispute ends.
After meeting at FirstGroup offices Paddington, LondonThe RMT union stated that it was working towards a revised offer with the Rail Delivery Group on Thursday.
The federation stated that they had held detailed discussions and were working together to revise the offer.
“The parties agreed to continue discussions for the next few days.”
Education
Later Thursday, the Union of Universities and Colleges announced that more than 70 000 staff from 150 universities in the UK would strike for 18 days between February andMarch over disputes over wages and terms.
The Union of Universities and Colleges said that the exact dates of the procedure will be confirmed next week.
Nevertheless, nine of the 10 members of NASUWT’s teachers’ union in England & Wales voted for strike action for wages. However the turnout was just 42%, far below the legal limit.
Despite not being able to achieve the required 50% turnout, the union claimed it was still at odds with the government.
It works in other places too The Elizabethan line in London was on strikeThe strike was also being waged by Abilio’s metropolitan bus workers.
Press Association – Alan Jones
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