Bring workers back in-house!
Steve Ion, Liverpool and Merseyside Socialist Party
Security guards in DWP offices in GMB and PCS unions have been on strike over pay and conditions. These workers do a difficult and dangerous job and 90% of them are paid just the minimum wage of £11.44 an hour.
The GMB began action in May, subsequently joined by PCS. The strikes involve continuous action for a week then a week’s pause. The action has been well supported in many areas and has forced DWP to close offices and Jobcentres.
As well as struggling on low pay, security guards are expected to work a Saturday shift for a flat-rate payment and are being asked to take more duties on for the same pay. Team leaders have also seen their pay drastically cut.
One of the concerns is over training. G4S does not build in enough time to complete the required training, and doesn’t always provide adequate IT for online training. Poor quality equipment is another issue – including workers using their own phones because walkie-talkies don’t work.
Yet management are prepared to bring in agency staff without training or proper equipment, and on higher rates of pay, to try to break the dispute! Workers face disciplinary action if they don’t wear body cameras, yet agency staff are not required to wear them.
It is reported that G4S has received over £250 million in funding from the DWP, with £190 million for security wages alone, since the strike began, so G4S can easily afford to offer a backdated cost-of-living increase.
G4S has now announced plans to cut the number of security guards across the Jobcentre network.
Members we spoke to agreed with the PCS demand that the work should be brought in-house. The DWP contract with G4S is due to end in April 2025. PCS and GMB should put demands on the Labour government to bring this security work back into the DWP rather than opening up the new tendering process.
- As we go to press, GMB has suspended the next planned action due to a new offer, but the PCS strike days from 27 August are going ahead
