More than a quarter of a million civil and public servants will ballot for a strike over cuts to pensions, jobs and pay, following an overwhelming vote at the Public and Commercial Services union annual conference today.

Ballot papers will be issued from next week and the ballot will close mid-June, with the first action possible later that month.

PCS union is working closely with education unions who are also balloting over pensions or have already voted and taken strike action, bringing the total to 750,000 union members.

The union wants: no detrimental changes to pensions or the civil service redundancy scheme; a strengthening of the Cabinet Office-agreed measures to avoid compulsory redundancies; and an end to the pay freeze and a fair pay rise for all.

The conference agreed to: hold a national ballot in defence of jobs, pensions and pay; and continue to work with other trade unions to co-ordinate action for maximum impact.

In a speech to delegates, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Everything we have ever worked for is under threat”

On pensions he said:

The government’s strategy on pay makes no economic sense. And George Osborne says public sector pensions are ‘unsustainable’ but the National Audit Office disagrees and Lord Hutton’s report showed the cost of public sector pensions is falling.

On strike action:

The government is trying to divide us – picking off different workers at different times. But if we vote for strike action we will be co-ordinating with unions representing another half a million public sector workers.

On wider campaigning and working with other organisations, including UK Uncut and community campaigners, he said:

For years our union has been at the forefront of the tax justice campaign, and we are proud to support UK Uncut that has popularised our message that the real fraudsters and the real scroungers are to be found in the boardrooms not in the jobcentres.

Like many I have been inspired by the student protests that erupted at the end of last year – hundreds of thousands of young people taking to the streets because they had been betrayed, again.

Their passion and their organisation surprised me and it also inspired me – because too often people have labelled young people as apolitical and apathetic.

He ended by saying:

We will need to be creative in our campaigning, tough in our bargaining, and prepared to take action. We will continue to work, and build links, with other trade unions to make our voice as powerful as possible in our campaigning and in any industrial action.

We can work together, campaign together and, yes, strike together – and together we can win.

Reader comments

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