A dispute over job cuts and privatisation in the Home Office is likely to result in strike action on 26 July unless ministers begin meaningful negotiations.
In a vindication of the PCS union’s argument about cuts, a home affairs select committee report has criticised the UK Border Agency – the largest agency in the Home Office – for failing to tackle a total casework backlog of more than 270,000. The report points out that the immigration group, the section with the largest backlog of work, has seen the biggest cuts in staffing.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “UKBA is clearly unable to cope and the backlogs are simply staggering… The Home Office simply cannot cut 8,500 jobs, a third of its workforce, and expect to maintain services to the public and the report exposes the folly of the department issuing compulsory redundancy notices to staff when it is clearly unable to cope with its workload.”
Culture, Media and Sport secretary Jeremy Hunt has further inflamed the situation by raising the possibility of sacking Border Agency staff who go on strike at the start of the Olympics.
The Guardian also reported that London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, is among senior Tory figures urging the government to introduce a new minimum vote threshold for strike ballots.
The Socialist has previously highlighted the hypocrisy of this – austerity chancellor George Osborne, for example, received only 37.6% of the electorate in May 2010.
Other proposals, that must be resisted with the full strength of the trade union movement, include setting basic requirements for public services during strikes which would cover transport, hospitals, education and border control.
As we go to press the government is reported to be seeking a high court injunction against the action.
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