Strikes are continuing in Britain as Border Force staff, driving examiners, and rail workers resumed their industrial actions on Wednesday over pay and job security.
The unions are blaming the government for the disruptions, demanding ministers allow higher pay rises, but Downing Street said the ministers “want people to agree a fair pay settlement” but can’t “allow for double-digit pay rises that will embed inflation going forward.”
More than 1,000 border control staff at the biggest airports across Britain—London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff, and Glasgow airports—and the port of Newhaven, who are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), began the second part of an eight-day strike that will end on the New Year’s Eve.
The first part of the walkout staged over Christmas between Dec. 23 and Dec. 26 caused minimal disturbance after military personnel were drafted to stand in during the quiet period, but PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka has warned the campaign could last for months.
Also on Wednesday, PCS members at 71 driving test centres in Eastern England and the Midlands began a five-day strike between Dec. 28 and Dec. 31, and on Jan. 3.
Serwotka said PCS members had been offered a 2 percent pay rise offer when inflation is over 10 percent, and blamed the government for the disruptions.
“We know our action will cause widespread disruption and inconvenience to people in Eastern England and the Midlands—hundreds of driving tests have already been cancelled in other parts of the country—but the government is to blame,” he said.
“These strikes could be called off tomorrow if Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt put some money on the table.”
The union said members voted to demand “a 10 percent pay rise, pensions justice, job security, and no cuts to redundancy terms.”
Besides DVSA strikes, the union has staged or announced strikes by employees from National Highways, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency.
Rail Strikes
The public service disruptions come after months of strikes over pay, conditions, and jobs by workers across sectors including rail workers, postal workers, barristers, teachers, nurses, and ambulance workers.Disruptions in rail services are also ongoing as members of the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA) at Great Western Railway and West Midlands Trains walk out from noon on Wednesday to noon on Thursday.
It comes after a day of travel chaos despite a rail strike by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ Union (RMT) coming to an end, with crowds of people left waiting at major train stations across London and many journeys delayed due to the late handover of engineering works.
Passengers have been told to prepare for “significantly disrupted” travel into the new year amid the wave of industrial unrest sweeping across the country.
Network Rail issued the warning amid a series of long-running disputes over pay and working conditions.
The i newspaper reported that the TSSA is poised to let different sections of its membership vote at different times in order to carry out multiple walkouts per week.
A spokesperson told the paper: “Rather than balloting everybody in one single ballot, our intention is to split the ballot so that we can ballot station staff separately to controllers, for example, which would give us greater flexibility in when we can call people out for strike action.”
TSSA organising director Nadine Rae told BBC Radio 4’s “Today” programme that the union wants the government to step back.
Asked about the Daily Mail citing a source suggesting rail union and industry bosses are “nearly there” in agreeing to a pay deal, Rae said, “Things have not changed since before Christmas in terms of a deal, it’s still in the government’s gift to ensure the employers can freely negotiate and can put together a deal that’s acceptable to our members and affordable to employers.”
Rae told the broadcaster that she believed the negotiations went “really well.”
When pressed whether “nearly there” was too optimistic a description, she replied: “It’s not optimistic if the government allows the employers to freely negotiate with others.
“It’s the Government that needs to shift this situation and we really want them to, we know the disruption is frustrating for people,” she added.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, a spokesman for Downing Street said the government maintains its position of wanting to see the strikes end but poured cold water on the prospect of handing out double-digit pay increases.
“We want the strikes to come to an end, we want people to agree a fair pay settlement but, as we’ve said before, what we can’t do is allow for double-digit pay rises that will embed inflation going forward, which will impact the amount of money people have going forward,” he said.
Speaking of rail strikes, the spokesman said, “We believe a fair and reasonable offer was put forward, which the RMT rejected despite a significant number of members voting to accept it, but now we want to see the unions get back round the table with the employers and reach a fair agreement.”
He said contingency planning over the Christmas period has been taking place, adding: “The Prime Minister wants to see employers and unions reach a fair agreement.”
