Civil servants vote to strike as pay talks break down

Published on Monday 21 July 2008 22:13

THE Scottish Government faces "unprecedented" industrial action by its civil servants after they voted yesterday to strike over pay.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) in Scotland narrowly voted to strike after agreement could not be reached over their pay.

Industrial action would affect the Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland, but could spread to other areas covered by the PCS. The move has been described by union leaders as unprecedented in terms of Scottish civil servants taking action alone.

Members of the PCS in Scotland have never taken industrial action before against the Scottish Government or its predecessors, the Scottish Executive and Scotland Office, although they have taken part in UK-wide strikes.

The dispute centres on the union's pay claim and follows the threat of action south of the Border by local government employees and civil servants. Other public sector unions in Scotland, including Unison, Unite and the GMB, are also balloting their 100,000 members who work in local government.

However, a PCS spokeswoman said the union was unlikely to wait for the others to announce the results of their ballots on 31 July, to announce their own day of action.

The PCS accused the SNP government in Holyrood of trying to push through the same 2 per cent cap on pay increases as that proposed by the Labour government in Westminster, which, it claims, is in effect a pay cut with inflation at 4.6 per cent.

The Scottish Government has said that it has offered a generous package, which would see a minimum 2 per cent rise, an average 4 per cent, and some low-paid workers receiving 20 per cent.

Eddie Reilly, the PCS Scottish secretary, said: "This is a majority decision over a minority government. In spite of daily pressures of rising food costs, travel, gas and electricity, PCS members in the Scottish Government and Registers of Scotland have demonstrated the strength of their anger over the proposed pay cut."

He also directly blamed the Scottish Government for the situation and warned it not to try to pass over responsibility to Westminster.

The Scottish Government pointed out that the results of the ballots were very close. There was a 54.3 per cent turnout in the Scottish Government ballot, with 931 members voting for strike action and 913 voting against, while in the Registers of Scotland ballot, there was a 55.5 per cent turnout with 338 members voting for strike action and 184 voting against.

WHAT NEXT

THE Public and Commercial Services Union now has a mandate to call a strike, even though the vote was tight.

It must give seven days notice and is likely to use this to put pressure on the Scottish Government to bring forward an improved offer. However, the Scottish Government is calculating that the close vote means many will not strike.

Another tactic for the PCS is to wait for Unison, Unite and the GMB to announce their ballot results for local government employees and go on strike with them. But PCS leaders have suggested they may take action sooner rather than later.