London:At least 100,000 government employees in the United Kingdom will strike on February 1, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the sixth largest trade union in the kingdom, announced on Wednesday.
“100,000 Public and Commercial Services (PCS) members in 124 government departments and other bodies* will take strike action on February 1,” the union tweeted, adding that the strike action will be attended by “all members in employers where the turnout passed the 50% threshold required by law for action in our ballot last year.”
According to a statement on the union’s website, the strike will be “the largest civil service strike for years and signals a significant escalation of industrial action after a month of strikes over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.” The union added that the strike action will call for a “10% pay rise, pensions justice, job security and no cuts in redundancy terms” against the background of inflation approaching 11% and the worsening cost-of-living crisis.
Worker strikes have become more frequent in the UK, in parallel with soaring inflation, which reached a record 11.1% in October. Ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss’ failure to curb growing prices and eliminate the budget deficit caused her to resign last month. Her successor Rishi Sunak’s government has presented a mid-term financial plan and is counting on tax hikes and cuts in public spending to stabilize the economy.
