100,000 civil servants latest to join UK strikes

Workers on strike at a picket line outside Euston railway station in London in August 2022. (Reuters/File)

• "The government must look at the huge vote for strike action across swathes of the civil service," said PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka
• Union bosses are demanding a 10 percent pay rise to match the country's high inflation rate

LONDON: Some 100,000 UK civil servants on Thursday voted to strike, in the latest industrial action to hit a country wracked by a cost-of-living crisis.
More than half of members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working in 126 employer areas including in the Home Office, Department for Transport and the Department for Work and Pensions voted to strike, exceeding the 50 percent threshold needed to trigger a walkout.
“The government must look at the huge vote for strike action across swathes of the civil service and realize it can no longer treat its workers with contempt,” said PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka.
“Our members have spoken and if the government fails to listen to them, we’ll have no option than to launch a prolonged program of industrial action reaching into every corner of public life.
“Civil servants have willingly and diligently played a vital role in keeping the country running during the pandemic but enough is enough,” he added.
Union bosses are demanding a 10 percent pay rise to match the country’s high inflation rate.
The cost-of-living crisis is leading to widespread UK strikes, with train workers, legal staff, dockers and even nurses among those walking out.