More than 20,000 civil servants in the Ministry of Defence have voted overwhelmingly to strike over cuts to their jobs, pensions and pay, the Public and Commercial Services union announces. 61.1% of members voted in favour of strike action and 83.6% in favour of action short of strike, on a turnout of 32.4%.
The workers were included in a UK-wide ballot of more than 250,000 PCS members in which 61.1% voted for a strike and 83.6% voted for other forms of industrial action, on a turnout of 32.4%.
The union is working closely with education unions, the National Union of Teachers and Association of Teachers and Lecturers, whose members have also voted to strike. It is also co-ordinating with the University and College Union which has already voted and taken strike action over cuts to pensions.
The first date of strike action will be 30 June with the possibility of further industrial action throughout the summer and in the autumn. PCS members in the Ministry of Defence will mount picket lines at all major MoD sites throughout the UK.
PCS is campaigning against the government’s slash and burn approach to tackling the budget deficit which will mean vital public services are axed, hundreds of thousands of public sector workers will be thrown out of work, and those that remain will have their pay and pensions cut.
The government has made it clear it will implement Lord Hutton’s proposals on public sector pensions, meaning civil and public servants face a doubling or tripling of their contributions and will have to work longer for much less in retirement. This is despite the National Audit Office and Lord Hutton himself confirming public sector pensions are affordable now and sustainable in future.
PCS MoD group president, Chris Dando said
Everything we have ever worked for is under threat.
There is an alternative to these cuts. The government should be investing in public services to help our economy to grow, creating jobs not cutting them, and clamping down on the wealthy tax dodgers who deprive our public finances of tens of billions of pounds a year. The Ministry of Defence spends more than £500 million every single month on external spending, much of which is unnecessary and could be better used within the defence budget.
We do not accept that a single job needs to be lost or a single penny cut from public spending. No one’s job, benefit, pension, college course, pay packet or public service is any more or less important than anyone else’s. If these cuts take place in the Ministry of Defence, the front life will suffer and ultimately lives will be lost.
Even the government admits that the modest pay and pensions of public servants did not cause the recession, so we shouldn’t be blamed or punished for it.
