Hundreds of staff at the Metropolitan Police will strike next month after their bosses threatened to dock their wages if they worked from home.
Over 300 members of civilian staff working at the force will strike for two weeks, the PCS Union has announced.
Union members had previously voted not to strike and instead use other methods of “non-compliance” following a row over the Met’s attendance policy.
But when management threatened to deduct a full day’s pay for any day which staff worked from home if they had been instructed to attend the office, the PCS said.
Staff members at the force were previously left furious when a new hybrid working policy was announced in 2023 which forced them to come into the office for 60 per cent of the time.
More than 300 staff in Referencing and Vetting will stop working from February 4 to 17, with strike action expected to impact the backroom functions of the Met.
The strike will mean that the National Crime Database will not be updated and fewer people may be cleared through vetting.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “This hardline approach by Met Police managers has been completely counter-productive, effectively escalating the dispute.
“Our members take their jobs very seriously and didn’t want to disrupt the important work they do, but now they feel their hands have been forced because if they’ll lose pay when they’re not striking, they felt they might as well lose pay for striking.
“Instead of pouring fuel on the fire by punishing our members for exercising their democratic right to take industrial action, managers should talk to us and try to resolve the issue.”
