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Passport workers strike over pay

A FOGGY Friday morning did not deter workers in the London passport office from turning out in numbers to picket their workplace on 13 October. The strike over pay was by 2,500 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), working in the Identity and Passport Service (IPS).

Neil Cafferky

The strike affected seven IPS offices across the UK. Staff are angry over IPS management's failure to settle their pay claim quickly despite previous promises to do so. They fear a repeat of last year when management dragged out a pay claim for over a year.

This intransigence is particularly galling because although passport prices have risen 50% in the last 12 months many staff have seen their meagre pay increases gobbled up by rising prices.

The strike was well-supported at the London office. One worker who had travelled down to London from a separate department to the IPS refused to enter the building and instead joined the picket line.

Colin Desmire, a PCS official on the picket line pointed out that although home secretary John Reid had recently praised IPS staff as a 'beacon' to other civil service workers, his words were hollow when the government could not back this up with a decent pay offer. "It's time for management to start treating staff with dignity", he said.

Belfast

STEPHEN FARRELLY, PCS rep in the Belfast passport office spoke to Peter Hadden of Ireland's The Socialist on the Belfast picket line:

"The action is completely solid here. Out of 115 PCS members only four have gone in. Royal Mail workers have refused to cross our picket so no post has got through. No passports will be processed here today.

"We want our pay settled in time, not fifteen months late. In the six years I have worked here I have never once received my increase on the 1 August settlement date.

"After today we are starting a work-to-rule and overtime ban and will be prepared to take further strike action if an offer is not put on the table."

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