Talks aim to halt wave of civil service strike action

Crunch talks aimed at halting a threatened wave of strikes this autumn are being held between trade union leaders and the UK government today.

The talks have come too late to stop a strike on Thursday involving more than 30,000 civil servants in Scotland, as part of a UK-wide dispute by up to 750,000 teachers, lecturers, civil servants and other public sector workers over jobs, pay cuts and pensions.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union voted to join teachers in England and Wales in Thursday's day of action in opposition to government cuts brought in to tackle the deficit.

The bulk of those involved in the stoppage in Scotland are staff from the JobCentre Plus service and tax offices.

But union officials taking part in today's talks believe that Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, will be keen to take some of the heat out of the dispute, after he sparked anger with a recent speech making it clear that the government was pressing ahead with plans to make public sector workers pay more into their pensions and work longer.

Senior SNP MSP John Wilson called on the UK government to resolve the dispute to the "satisfaction" of all parties during the talks today.

Mr Wilson, who is the deputy convenor of Holyrood's economy committee, said: "The UK government has got to be aware of that for many low-paid workers, striking is the last thing they want to do, but that it is sometimes the only way they can protect their pay and conditions.

"It's unfortunate that people will be affected by these strikes and I would urge the UK government to resolve this dispute to the satisfaction of all sides."