Public sector workers strike over pay
18/03/2008(16:12)
Around 80,000 public service staff have begun their two-day strike for better pay and conditions.
The members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union who work for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) are in the latest phase for their campaign for a better deal.
Workers in Job Centre's, benefit offices, the Child Support Agency and the Pensions Service are striking in branches across the country in regard to a three-year pay offer, which they say takes the lowest earners to just 24p over the minimum wage.
Mark Serwotka, the general secretary for the PCS, told the Press Association: "DWP management have enough money to guarantee every staff member an increase in line with inflation this year.
"Instead they are choosing to squander over £80 million on bonuses and reward people with a zero per cent pay rise."
A spokesman for the DWP said: "For those employees lower down the pay scales, during the next three years the minimum pay increase they will see is three per cent a year."
The union says the pay deal will average one per cent a year over the three years.
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