FORMAL backing for more than a quarter of a million civil and public servants to join a public sector-wide strike on November 30 puts the Public and Commercial Services union on a ‘war footing’.
Meeting Thursday, the union’s national executive committee endorsed the date as the next national strike following the successful action PCS took on June 30 alongside teachers and lecturers. It will be followed by a one-month overtime ban.
At a previous meeting ahead of the TUC annual congress, PCS’s NEC had agreed to co-ordinate strike action with other unions and said it was looking at dates in November.
The union is also considering the potential for taking more targeted and selective industrial action alongside any taken nationally, and each employer area of the union is drawing up campaign plans focusing on their specific issues.
Following announcements at TUC congress earlier this month, the government now faces the prospect of a strike by up to three million public sector workers – the largest in UK history.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: ‘Our union and others across the public sector are now on a war footing to prepare for what would be the biggest strike in UK history.
‘If ministers continue to dig their heels in they will face industrial action by three million civil servants, health workers, teachers and other public servants that will not just last one day, but will be sustained for weeks and months.’
