Civil Servants To Vote On National Strike

More than 250,000 civil servants are to vote on staging a national strike in protest at government cuts to jobs, services and pensions.

The nationwide ballot was approved by delegates at the annual conference of the Public and Commercial Services Union in Brighton.

Voting will start next week and the result will be known by mid-June.

It has been timed to coincide with industrial action by other workers, including teachers, who are set to walk out on June 30.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka told the conference that 750,000 workers could be involved in strikes next month, a figure that could rise to millions later in the year.

He said: "National action with other unions is key to our strategy, which is designed to escalate and put pressure on the Government before it is too late."

Mr Serwotka urged members to "fight like never before" to reverse the "brutal" cuts which he claimed would see 110,000 civil servants' jobs cut, offices closed, pay frozen and pensions reduced.

He said: "The Government is attacking everything we have fought for for generations.

"Things we have taken for granted, and which our parents fought for, are now in danger of disappearing. Kids will be worse off than their parents because of this Government."

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers , the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers have already agreed to ballot members over national strike action.