Olympics: Home Office Staff Strike On July 26

spacer

Heathrow arrivals could be affected by the strike

spacer

The head of the PCS union, Mark Serwotka, tells Sky News why the union's members are going to strike.

Video: PCS Boss: Services Getting Worse

Enlarge
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Airport immigration staff have decided to stage a 24-hour strike the day before the opening of the Olympic Games.

    UK Border Agency workers are among thousands of Home Office employees who will walk out on July 26 in a row over jobs, pay and privatisation.

    The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) is also warning that its members will take other forms of industrial action, such as a ban on overtime, from July 27 to August 20.

    This timeframe covers the entire Olympic period and means crucial border controls at ports and airports will be hit, threatening disruption for people travelling to the Games.

    The move is a further blow to the Government as it works to make sure that the Olympics run smoothly.

    Security operations for what is one of the largest events to happen in Britain have already been blown off course by the G4S guard fiasco.

    General Secretary Mark Serwotka said: "The lives of staff have been made intolerable by these cuts and they're at breaking point.

    "Ministers have known about these issues for a very long time and need to act now to sort out the chaos they have caused.

    "They're acting recklessly in cutting so many jobs and privatising services, and are provocatively refusing to talk to us with a genuine desire to reach an agreement."

    Home Secretary Theresa May branded the strike decision "shameful".

    "They are holding a strike on what is one of the key days for people coming in for the Olympic Games," she said.

    "We will of course put contingency arrangements in place to ensure we can deal with people coming through the border as smoothly as possible."

    Labour leader Ed Miliband, speaking before the date was announced, said: "People should not be disrupting the Olympic Games."

    The PCS has threatened to announce further action if ministers continue to "refuse" to negotiate an agreement.

    Only 20% of its members voted in the ballot about industrial action. Of those, 57.2% supported a strike and 75.8% voted for different measures.

    According to the union, Home Office plans to slash 8,500 jobs by 2015 and for the UKBA to lose 22% of its staff over the same period are "unsustainable".

    It is also resisting pay rises capped at 1% following a two-year freeze and the privatisation of some services.