We’ve got no sympathy, private firms tell striking civil servants

by by Darren Devine - 09/03/2010

"STRIKING public sector workers were yesterday told to share the burden of the recession shouldered by those in the private sector – and end the disruption stemming from their dispute."

Civil servants across Wales faced the backlash as they started a 48-hour strike in protest at cuts to redundancy pay.

Simon Evans, of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Wales, said public sector workers “had to accept” limitations on pay, spending and employees’ terms and conditions.

He said: “All of these things need to be looked at in terms of the economy as a whole – the economy in Wales will never work unless both parts are pulling together.

“It’s not public sector versus private sector – we both need now to tighten our belts and take a realistic approach to how we can do the best we can to make sure the economy of Wales stays as buoyant as it can through what are going to be pretty tough times.”

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said the industrial action was the biggest in the service since 1987 and further disruption was planned in the run-up to the general election. The strike hit courts, ports, jobcentres, benefit offices, tax centres and emergency police call centres.

The National Assembly decided to cancel its plenary session, while disruption hit offices in many parts of the country.

In Cardiff, staff at HM Revenue & Customs were involved, as were those from the Office for National Statistics, the Passport Agency and the UK Intellectual Property Office, all in Newport.

Mr Evans of the FSB said thousands of private sector workers had lost jobs or had their pay slashed or frozen during the recession and that public sector workers should not be immune.

At one point during the recession, public sector employment was increasing and though many pensions in the private sector were closed, taxpayer-financed state schemes were all but invulnerable, he said.

Mr Evans, who called the strike “disappointing”, said: “It’s very clear that now we’re going to have a very tough time in terms of public sector expenditure and that has to affect the salary and conditions of public sector workers.

“A common sense approach and looking in the long, rather than the short and mid-term really is needed – at the end of the day three or four years on a lower pay increase is better than one year down the line having to make somebody redundant.”

He added: “They (public sector workers) have to accept that unfortunately to help the economy as a whole there needs to be some limitations on spending, pay rises and on all of those terms and conditions.

“Unfortunately the reality is that in the private sector we’ve seen people taking pay cuts and people going on to shorter working hours.

“All of these things have helped because people in the private sector have looked at the situation and have taken the decision that it’s better for them to earn 80% rather than 0% and lose their job.”

Union leaders clashed with the Government last night over the effect of a strike by civil servants.

The Public and Commercial Services union claimed more than 200,000 employees across the UK had walked out causing “widespread disruption” to services.

But the Cabinet Office maintained that 81,000 PCS members were on strike, adding that 85% of civil servants were working normally.

Ministers said all jobcentres and benefits offices were open, border entry points were working normally and court services were being maintained, while HM Coastguard said only 15 staff of 1,227 were on strike.

Picket lines were mounted outside Government offices across the country as well as the House of Commons – the first protest of its kind in a generation.

Cabinet Office Minister Tessa Jowell said: “More than 70% of PCS members have decided not to take part in today’s action.

“Across the country services to the public are largely unaffected – all jobcentres and benefits offices are open, border entry points are working normally and court services are being maintained.

“Today’s low turnout supports the view that after 18 months of negotiation the right deal on reforming the Civil Service compensation scheme has been reached. The changes have already been agreed with five of the six Civil Service unions.”

But PCS secretary for Wales Peter Harris insisted the ongoing strike action had the support of most public sector workers – and warned mass redundancies in the sector could jeopardise the fledgling economic recovery.

He said: “Most people agree that cutting public sector jobs is not the right thing to do.

“It will give us a double dip and there’ll be another recession.”

He said staff in the largest government department, Work and Pensions, have been awarded salary increases of just 2% for several years.

The PCS has around 22,000 members in Wales. Workers at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), in Swansea, are also involved in the dispute.

Rallies were held in Cardiff and Swansea, with South Wales Central Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood and Health Minister Edwina Hart speaking in support of the strikers.

More Details: http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/03/09/we-ve-got-no-sympathy-private-firms-tell-striking-civil-servants-91466-25990511/