Build vote for strikes in the PCS

Some 250,000 PCS union members in the civil service are voting in a strike ballot over government attacks on their pay, conditions and pensions.

Union activists have launched themselves into the Vote Yes Yes campaign, calling on their co-workers to vote yes to both questions on the ballot.

There is also a video, made by PCS activists that can be used in meetings, which explains the case for the strike.

It includes a call from PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka who says “If they won’t talk to us at the moment, we have to put the pressure on them.”

The video also includes members saying why they’re voting yes.

Workers across the country are organising meetings in their workplaces for PCS union members to come together and discuss the reasons why members should vote yes.

The main issues include an imposed two year pay freeze that was followed by a 1 percent pay cap—well below the rate of inflation. As well as the government’s attacks on pensions and making people work til 68, and attacks on terms and conditions.

The union is demanding a £1,200 pay rise, or 5 percent, for 2013.

David Carter, who works for the HMRC told Socialist Worker, “We’re hard working people on low pay, we’re not looking to be paid the same as politicians, we just want what’s right.

“They want to grind us down, but I think most people want to fight the changes.”