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MEDIA RELEASE Hundreds of Thousands of civil servants across the UK will be staying away from work today (Nov 5) in a one-day strike organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) over government plans to slash over 100,000 civil and public service jobs. 160 government departments and agencies are involved in the biggest strike in over a decade, which will see an unprecedented number of picket lines, events and rallies up and down the country as civil servants protest over savage job cuts which will decimate services people rely on from cradle to grave. A huge range of services across the UK will be hit by the strike ranging from, driving licences, Jobcentres and benefit offices, to tax credits, tax collection and the protection of our shores from illegal contraband, as well museums, galleries and the court service. The strike also comes as civil servants face having to work longer to receive their pension as well proposals to change sick absence arrangements. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary will today (5 Nov) speak at a rally in London Westminster Cathedral Hall, Francis St. SW1 at 1pm. He will be joined by Dave Prentis the general secretary of UNISON, John McDonnell MP, Paul Mackney general secretary of NATFE, Andy Gilchrist general secretary FBU, Kay Carberry TUC assistant general secretary, Bob Crow general secretary of the RMT and Wendy Caird of Public Services International. Information on rallies around the country can be found at www.pcs.org.uk Commenting Mark Serwotka PCS general secretary said: “Hundreds of thousands of members are today taking a stand against arbitrary cuts which will decimate services we all rely on from the cradle to the grave. The people on strike today are not faceless bureaucrats or your bowler hatted Sir Humphrey’s but people, who collect the taxes to build hospitals and schools, get the unemployed in to work and protect our shores from illegal contraband. Cuts on this scale will do nothing to improve service delivery and mean people will have to travel further to access services. Decent public services need civil servants to deliver them. “Members are angry to be faced with such damaging cuts, anger which will only be compounded if plans to increase the pension age get the green light. The public will be inconvenienced today, but it will be nothing like the inconvenience of having to wait longer, seeing your local benefit or tax office closed or not being able to access vital services as and when you need them.” ENDS Notes to editorsPCS, the Public and Commercial Services Union is the union representing civil and public servants in central government. It has over 310,000 members in over 200 departments and agencies. It also represents workers in parts of government transferred to the private sector. PCS is the UK’s sixth largest union and is affiliated to the TUC. The general secretary is Mark Serwotka and the president is Janice Godrich. Alex Flynn
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