National pay vote in PCS union

PCS members won the Royal Parks strike (Pic: Guy Smallman)

Civil service workers across Britain are voting in a union‑wide survey on whether to strike over pay and pensions. The consultative ballot of PCS union members began on Monday of this week.

The union is asking its members whether they would be prepared to strike for demands including a pay rise of 10 percent, and a minimum wage of £15 an hour. 

It launched the survey on Monday with a live meeting streamed on Facebook. The survey, set to end on Monday 21 March, could be followed by a legal strike ballot.

• IT workers on a number of government contracts have voted to strike over pay. PCS members working for Atos IT Services voted by 90 percent for strikes on a turnout of 62 percent. Bosses have offered workers a pay rise of just 1.5 percent.

Fight needed to save all the jobs at Liberty Steel

A bosses’ crisis is threatening thousands of workers’ jobs.

Speciality Steel UK Limited, a division of Liberty Steel, which employs about 2,000 people in England, faces winding up orders. Subsidiaries Liberty Pipes, Liberty Performance Steels and Liberty Merchant Bar also face moves to close them down.

The companies, owned by metals tycoon Sanjeev Gupta, owe money to the tax authorities.

Steel unions GMB, Unite and Community have called for the government to take action, but say this just involves talks with the management. 

If bosses announce any job cuts there should be strikes—and pressure for democratic public ownership of the whole sector.