Ban on overtime follows day of public sector strikes

On strike: Public sector workers protest over pensions
12 April 2012

A month-long ban on overtime comes into effect today which members of the Public and Commercial Services union say will have a cumulative impact on government services.

The announcement of the overtime ban comes as a fresh round of industrial action gets underway over public sector pensions.

Hundreds of thousands of teachers, lecturers, civil servants and other workers walked out for 24 hours yesterday, in the biggest strike action the country has seen for five years.

Thousands of schools, museums and colleges were closed and major disruption hit courts, jobcentres, and government departments.

The PCS said yesterday's strike was the most successful it had ever held, claiming that over 200,000 of its members had walked out.

But the Government disputed the figure, maintaining that fewer than half of PCS members had taken action.

Labour leader Ed Miliband last night branded the strike "a mistake" which would not help unions win public support for their fight to defend pensions.

Mr Miliband was branded a "disgrace" by some trade unionists for his refusal to endorse yesterday's walkout.

He used a blog posting last night to defend his stance: "It is a mistake to resort to disruption at a time when negotiations are still going on.

"And it is a mistake not just because of the inconvenience caused but also because I firmly believe it will not help to win the argument with the public."

Accusing the Government of having "a huge responsibility" for yesterday's disruption, the Labour leader called on ministers to get round the table with unions to prevent a repeat.

Ministers said the strike by members of the PCS, National Union of Teachers, Association of Teachers and Lecturers and University and College Union did not cause disruption at ports and airports or widespread cancellation of driving tests or court cases, as predicted.

The Cabinet Office said the "vast majority" - around 80% - of the civil service workforce was not on strike and fewer PCS members joined the industrial action than in earlier disputes in 2004 and 2007.

Around half of state schools were closed or only partially open, with more than 10,000 schools affected across England.

Thousands of strikers also took to the nation's streets to protest.

The Metropolitan Police said 35 people were arrested during demonstrations in central London for offences including possession of drugs, criminal damage and breach of the peace.

PCS leaders will meet later this month to consider the next phase of the union's campaign, which could include strikes against individual government departments such as Work and Pensions or HM Revenue and Customs.

Leaders of public sector unions are expected to hold fresh talks with the Government in the next few weeks to try to resolve the row over public sector pension reform.

Ministers maintain public sector workers should pay more into pensions and work longer, but unions argue that the changes are unfair.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in