Civil servants running public services from passports to pensions have voted to take strike action, joining a wave of stoppages expected to hit the UK, as workers fight to protect their living standards in the face of double-digit inflation.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) announced on Thursday that the threshold for strike action had been hit in 126 public sector workplaces, covering 100,000 workers.
It represents civil servants who work in Whitehall, or in frontline services such as jobcentres, and had balloted 150,000 members.
The PCS general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “The government must look at the huge vote for strike action across swathes of the civil service and realise it can no longer treat its workers with contempt.
“Our members have spoken and if the government fails to listen to them, we’ll have no option than to launch a prolonged programme of industrial action reaching into every corner of public life.”
Civil servants will join nurses, who have already backed stoppages in a ballot. Teachers are also in the process of voting on potential strikes in the new year, while Unison is balloting more than 300,000 NHS workers.
With inflation at 10.1% and many public sector workers having suffered a decade of pay restraint, the scene has been set for a fierce confrontation.
The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to pencil in just 2% public sector pay rises in his financial statement next week, despite the clamour from unions, who say the cost of living crisis is hitting their members hard.
The Treasury says final decisions will be left to individual departments but ministers are unlikely to want to sign off more generous deals unless Hunt is willing to fund them.
Serwotka, previously suggested his members could take coordinated action, side-by-side with workers from other sectors striking in the coming months.
Recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank showed average public sector wages are 4% lower in real terms than 15 years ago – against a 0.9% reduction in the private sector.
Some public sector employers have said that stagnant wages are contributing to the challenges of hiring and retaining staff.
The NHS Confederation chief executive, Matthew Taylor, said recently: “Two of the words I hear most often when I speak to NHS and care leaders are Amazon and Aldi: and the reason I hear those words is because their staff are leaving to work in Amazon and Aldi.”
Strikes by railworkers represented by the RMT union were called off at the last minute last weekend, amid what they described as an offer of “intensive” talks over pay and working conditions.
It is unclear whether the arrival of a new transport secretary, Mark Harper, has helped to unlock the long-running dispute. Harper’s predecessor, Grant Shapps, had been blamed by the unions and Labour for blocking any progress.
