Civil servants strike over pay, pensions and job cuts

WORKERS from Oldham joined a regional strike by the Public and Commercial Services union today.

Staff from the Jobcentre Plus office in Tweedale House and the Benefits Centre and Tax Office in Phoenix House — all in Union Street — teamed up with union members from Ashton, Heywood, Bacup and Rochdale for the Manchester rally at Cross Street Chapel from 11.30am.

Up to 30,000 jobcentre and benefit office staff from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and tax workers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from across the North-West took part in the strike.

These joint strikes form part of the union’s three-month civil service-wide campaign against imposed cuts to pay, pensions, jobs and working conditions which has involved weeks of industrial action among the union’s 250,000 public-sector members.