Scottish Parliament suspends business as public sector strike hits

Published on Tuesday 9 March 2010 09:16

THE Scottish Parliament suspended business today as thousands of public sector workers joined a second day of UK-wide strike action.

Holyrood cancelled its usual committee meetings while courts, job centres, tax offices, museums and government were affected by the industrial action.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union is unhappy at changes to civil servants' redundancy terms. Pickets were held across the country, including Parliament, where members lobbied MSPs.

The union said about 90 per cent of its 33,000 members took part in the strike in Scotland.

A spokeswoman for the Parliament said committees were cancelled after discussions with MSPs who sit on them, although resources had been put in place to support regular business.

The Scottish Government said it was "open for business as normal" with no reports of serious disruption.

About 1,355 government staff took part in the industrial action out of a total workforce of 7,500.

A PCS spokeswoman said: "We have seen again a magnificent turnout across Scotland. Offices were closed and very few people were crossing picket lines in all parts of the country.

"We had a lobby group at the Scottish Parliament at 10.30am where picketers from across Edinburgh come along to join in."

The union's national executive will meet in London on Thursday to determine the next course of action, which could include further strikes, the spokeswoman said.

Rallies have been held in Glasgow and Dundee while pickets were also in place at Edinburgh Castle, museums, galleries and libraries.

Across the UK, about 250,000 civil and public servants walked out, according to the PCS.