Benefit offices and job centres across the country will be closed today as more than 90,000 civil servants strike against low pay and a controversial performance scheme.
Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union who work for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in job centres, benefit offices, pension service offices and the child support agency will be out on strike for two days - their third stoppage in an increasingly bitter dispute.
The union said today it had recruited 14,000 more members at the DWP since the dispute began, taking numbers to 97,313. In a ballot organised by the PCS earlier this week, 97.7% said they had no confidence in the department's senior management.
Starting salaries of only £10,300 and the performance system, with a bonus scheme branded "divisive" by the union, are the staff's central grievances. The bonus scheme uses quotas, so only a set proportion of staff can receive higher bonuses, even if all individuals perform well.
The chancellor's announcement that more than 100,000 civil servant jobs would be axed - 40,000 of them at the DWP - has increased discontent.
The PCS has filed a high court case for breaches of staff contracts over the imposition of the performance scheme, and is expecting a hearing date in the autumn. The introduction has also sparked local walkouts where managers have been suspended for refusing to conduct staff reviews under the scheme.
Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS, called on the work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith to intervene in the dispute. "Any disruption to the public is regrettable, but the divisive and unfair nature of the performance bonus scheme is there for all to see. Allied with continuing low pay it represents a double whammy for staff," he said.
