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16/01/2006
Jobcentre staff set to strike
Thousands of Jobcentre staff and benefit office workers are to hold a 48-hour strike next week, following a breakdown in talks over job cuts and deteriorating services.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union said that the strike would take place on January 26 and 27 and would involve employees from Jobcentres, benefit offices, pensions centres and the Child Support Agency across England, Scotland and Wales.
The strike follows the loss of 15,000 jobs in the Department for Work and Pensions, since March 2004 - part of government plans to cut 30,000 jobs in the department by 2008.
The union had urged the government to halt the cuts until an assessment of adequate staffing levels had been conducted.
The union also wanted the government to guarantee that there would be no compulsory redundancies.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, said: "Strike action is not a step we take lightly. But against a backdrop of the DWP refusing to acknowledge the damage being wrought by job cuts, our members will take action to defend the services they deliver.
"Unless the department wake up and halt the job cuts programme and look objectively at staffing levels, there is a real danger that some of the most disadvantaged in society will be let down and no longer get the hand up they need."
A spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions said that the government was "disappointed" at the union's decision.
(KMcA)
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) Union said that the strike would take place on January 26 and 27 and would involve employees from Jobcentres, benefit offices, pensions centres and the Child Support Agency across England, Scotland and Wales.
The strike follows the loss of 15,000 jobs in the Department for Work and Pensions, since March 2004 - part of government plans to cut 30,000 jobs in the department by 2008.
The union had urged the government to halt the cuts until an assessment of adequate staffing levels had been conducted.
The union also wanted the government to guarantee that there would be no compulsory redundancies.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, said: "Strike action is not a step we take lightly. But against a backdrop of the DWP refusing to acknowledge the damage being wrought by job cuts, our members will take action to defend the services they deliver.
"Unless the department wake up and halt the job cuts programme and look objectively at staffing levels, there is a real danger that some of the most disadvantaged in society will be let down and no longer get the hand up they need."
A spokesperson for the Department of Work and Pensions said that the government was "disappointed" at the union's decision.
(KMcA)
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