Security staff in the Houses of Parliament who are members of the PCS took strike action last week on Budget Day. These members do essential work keeping Parliament, and everyone in it, safe 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, yet face vicious attacks on their pay, conditions, and rights from the same institution they keep safe. Last week marked their fourth day of industrial action, demanding the restoration of their original 8-hour shifts and the return of six days of annual leave lost when management imposed 12-hour shifts without consultation. They are also fighting for a fair pay rise after years of stagnation and for action to tackle a widening ethnicity pay gap. Members were forced into industrial action because the employer refused to come to the table or engage in serious talks with the union.
This comes at a time when the cost of living is being driven through the roof, with energy, water, rent, food, and transport all hitting record highs while pay stagnates. Meanwhile, MPs’ pay has risen much faster than the average public-sector wage (many also with extremely lucrative second jobs), exposing the glaring inequality between those making the decisions and those keeping Parliament running. Workers are expected to accept these attacks quietly, endure longer hours, lower real terms pay, reduced leave, and growing workloads.
The strike on Budget Day sent a clear message. Workers refuse to stay quiet while governments of all parties push through austerity, cut pay, and attack public services. As the Labour government stood in Parliament announcing its budget, workers were out on the picket line, taking industrial action showing the fight against the politics that attack their working and living conditions.
I am a member of the sister PCS branch in Parliament and stood on the picket line, alongside other members and MPs in solidarity with their dispute.
The challenges faced by Parliamentary security staff are not unique. PCS members across the civil service and public sector are facing the same attacks on pay, conditions, and rights. Parliamentary security staff are part of a wider wave of industrial disputes across PCS. Civilian staff at the Met police, workers at the Tate Modern and Britain, British library and others are taking strike action demanding an end to pay stagnation, casualisation, and attacks on terms and conditions.
The growing wave of industrial disputes shows the mood to fight is there!
PCS needs a fighting, coordinated approach that links the many disputes breaking out across the union into a single, coordinated national campaign capable of fighting against austerity, real-terms pay cuts, and attacks on conditions. Members are showing, and telling us, that they are ready to organise and take action and we need leadership who can harness and build that mood rather than hold it back!
No new dates for strike action have been announced, though there are plans for action on New Year’s Eve. You can support your fellow PCS members by joining any future picket lines.
As an increasing number of workers move into dispute, the need for a bold national campaign under a fighting, democratic leadership is even more pressing. If you want to join us in fighting for that, join BLN.
PCS Broad Left Network 