Court security staff vote to strike after rejecting a wage increase of 27p an hour the union has criticized as a “poverty pay”.
- PCS union members voted 96 percent in favor of industrial action
- The union says an offer of 27p an hour above minimum wage was turned down
- It comes as lawyers are on strike for a third week in an ongoing protest over pay
Court security staff have voted to strike in a pay dispute amid the cost of living crisis hitting the UK economy.
Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union members, employed by private contractors OCS, voted 96 percent in favor of industrial action, with a turnout of 61 percent.
They have rejected a wage offer the union said was worth 27p an hour above the national minimum wage of £9.50.
PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members are facing a cost of living crisis, but instead of helping them, OCS continues to provide poverty payments.
“Courts are already struggling with a large backlog of cases and the lack of security officials will stall them.”
Court security staff have voted to strike in a pay dispute amid the cost of living crisis hitting the UK economy. Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (pictured, file photo), employed by private contractors OCS, voted 96 percent in favor of industrial action with a turnout of 61 percent
The union is demanding a one-off payment of £500, full sick pay from day one, an extra day of annual leave and paid time off for doctor’s appointments.
The Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents public sector workers, will also hold a vote on salaries, pensions and layoffs in September.
The union said its members are facing an unprecedented cost of living crisis and the government plans to cut 91,000 public sector jobs.
This comes as lawyers are on strike for a third week in an ongoing protest over pay and conditions after rejecting a 15 percent pay rise.
Criminal cases face further disruption as the four-day strike by defense attorneys took place today.
Lawyers gathered on supreme court in London as well as BirminghamPreston and Plymouth Crown Courts in support of the ongoing Criminal Bar Association (CBA) action in a dispute over government-imposed conditions and fees for legal aid advocacy.
PCS General Secretary Mark Serwotka (pictured in 2020) said: “Our members are facing a cost of living crisis, but instead of helping them, OCS continues to offer poverty payments.”
The Department of Justice has announced that criminal lawyers will receive a 15 per cent fee increase from the end of September, meaning a typical lawyer will earn £7,000 more a year.
Lawyers are self-employed. Before Covid, in 2019-20, lawyers who said they worked full-time in crime were paid an average of £61,000 after costs, according to the Bar Council, but that figure fell to £47,000 in 2020-21 after the pandemic hit the courts closed.
Pay could rise to pre-pandemic levels now that courts are back in person. However, interest rates may have fallen in real terms due to the impact of inflation.
