More than 100,000 workers from across all kinds of industries will walk out in a national day of strike action next week. Unions for civil servants, teachers, doctors and railway workers, have declared that March 15 will be a strike day.
Employees from HM Revenue and Customers, Companies House and the Care Quality Commission recently voted in favour of the walkout. Teachers, junior doctors and Tube workers will be among those joining them on the picket line.
The decision to walk out on March 15 has been timed to match Jeremy Hunt’s annual budget and hopes to pile pressure on the Chancellor to raise the pay of hundreds of thousands of workers. Unions are calling for wage increases that match the rate of inflation as workers struggle with the rising cost of living.
Read more: March 2023 strike dates calendar for teachers, train, junior doctors and university staff
More than 130,000 civil service and public sector workers in 132 government departments with the Public and Commerical Services Union (PCS) will be taking to more than 1,000 picket lines across the UK on Budget day. This includes workers from the Home Office, the DVSA and Ofsted.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Rishi Sunak doesn’t seem to understand that the more he ignores our members’ demands for a pay rise to get them through the cost-of-living crisis, the more angry and more determined he makes them. PCS members are suffering a completely unacceptable decline in their pay.
“By April, one-third of HMRC staff, for example, will be earning just the minimum wage. 40,000 civil servants have used a food bank. It’s an appalling way for the government to treat its own workforce.
“Rishi Sunak can end this dispute tomorrow if he puts more money on the table. If he refuses to do that, more action is inevitable."
Following budget day, railway workers, Network Rail staff, junior doctors, teachers, university staff and Amazon employees will continue to strike with further walkouts planned during the rest of the week.
Who is striking on March 15?
Junior doctors
Teachers
Civil servants from 132 Government departments
Amazon staff
University staff
London Underground staff
Hospital dental trainees
Strikes planned by ambulance workers and NHS nurses have been paused following news that unions and the government have agreed to enter into fresh talks. Unions across the board are seeking better pay, with salaries increasing with the rate of inflation, as well as assurances over pensions and redundancies.
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