600 Chester civil servants to go on two-day strike

Mar 4 2010 by Gary Porter, Chester Chronicle

A TOTAL of 600 Government employees in Chester will walk out on strike for two days next week.

The Public & Commercial Services union (PCS) has called a 48-hour stoppage on Monday, March 8 and the following day in response to proposals to slash redundancy payments by up to one third.

Workers at Job Centres, Pension Centres, Tax Offices, Courts, Passport Offices, Coastguard Stations and Driving Test Centres will be among those taking part.

A total of 50,000 civil servants in the North West will go on strike, 6,000 of which are based in Cheshire.

PCS Cheshire branch secretary Nic Bolderston said: “The Department for Works and Pensions is the largest of the Governmental Departments and PCS DWP always has the highest turnout from staff for industrial action, as we tend to get the harshest treatment when it comes to cuts.

“In the past five years the DWP has shed over 30,000 staff. This equates to at least 5,000 staff lost per year and this was prior to the recession.”