24,000 Lancashire civil servants to strike (From Chorley Citizen)

24,000 Lancashire civil servants to strike

12:36pm Thursday 4th March 2010 in

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AROUND 24,000 civil servants in Lancashire are set to strike next week over proposals to cut redundancy payments.

The members of the Public and Commercial Services Union plan to walk out on Monday and Tuesday.

Staff from jobcentres, driving test centres, tax, passport and benefit offices, customs and revenue, courts and other Government departments are involved.

Across the country up to 270,000 workers are expected to strike.

The action is in protest at 'unilateral' cuts to their pay if they are made redundant.

The PCS claims the government is looking to save £500 million through the changes, amid fears of wide-ranging public sector job cuts.

Lawrence Dunne, PCS north west regional chair, said: "This region relies heavily on public sector jobs and all the indications are that the strike will be rock solid in the North West.

PCS north west regional secretary Peter Middleman added: "The changes to the civil service compensation scheme pave the way for wide-scale compulsory redundancies regardless of who wins the election.

"By vigorously opposing the changes through legal, political and industrial means now, members are making it harder for the politicians and senior civil servants to deliver on their promises of cuts of up to one in five jobs over the next four years."

The union is urging MPs today to press the government to drop the changes.

But Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell, said: "There has been no unilateral action, in fact the changes to the Civil Service Compensation Scheme were agreed with five of the six Civil Service unions after 18 months of negotiation and consultation.

"These unions all agree with us that the resulting deal is fair for staff and taxpayers. During the negotiating process, we responded to union concerns by ensuring additional protection for lower paid staff.

"This package brings the Civil Service more into line with the rest of the public sector and still offers more generous terms than much of the private sector."