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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Politics
Sophie Huskisson

Half term holidays at risk as Border Force announce four days of strike action

One thousand Border Force officers will stage strikes for four days during half term - putting school holidays in jeopardy.

Staff working in Dover, Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk are to walk out on February 17-20, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has announced.

More than 100,000 civil servants who are members of the PCS union are to strike tomorrow.

Border Force staff are affected by similar issues over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members perform vital roles. We therefore expect our strikes tomorrow [Wednesday, February 1] will have a massive impact on public services.

“And the strikes we have announced today in the Border Force will impact on people returning from their holidays during the half term period.

Unison also announced a fresh strike date today (Humphrey Nemar/ dailty mirror)

“For while the government brought untrained military personnel in to replace our highly-skilled and experienced officers in airports over Christmas, they won’t be able to do that in France.

“The blame for these strikes lies firmly at the feet of ministers who are refusing to put any money on the table.”

Strikes by up to half-a-million workers across the UK in bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions are set to take place this week.

Teachers, train drivers, civil servants, university lecturers, bus drivers and security guards from seven trade unions will walk out on Wednesday in what will be the biggest day of industrial action in over a decade.

Thousands of ambulance workers in Unison across five services in England will also strike on February 10 in the long-running dispute over pay and staffing, the union announced today.

It puts further pressure on the Prime Minister, who is failing to get a grip on industrial action.

Unison's February 10 strike again involves ambulance workers in London, Yorkshire, the South West, North East and North West.

Unison's fresh date will mean strikes will now be happening across the NHS every day next week apart from Wednesday.

The GMB announced that more than 10,000 blue light workers in England will walk out on February 6 and 20, and March 6 and 20, in a fraught dispute over pay.

The February 6 date coincides with further strike action by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) in England and Wales, marking the first time paramedics and nurses will down tools on the same day.

Nurses will also strike the following day, along with midwives in Wales.

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