More than 130,000 UK civil servants were striking today - March 15 - for their pay, pension and job security. With chants of "solidarity" and placards reading "If HSE can't regulate, who will?" hundreds of strikers, who work in key departments including education, health, transport and the environment among others, picketed the Welsh Government offices in Cathays Park.
Workers from HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) were among the strikers, along with members of unions such as the PCS, RMT, UCS and Prospect. They gathered outside the offices that primarily serve as a base for HM Revenue and Customs, but are also the UK's Department for International Trade and Cabinet Office, at 7am on Wednesday, March 15.
The UK government has offered a 2% pay rise for civil servants, and urged strikers to recognise, "what is reasonable and affordable". But the PCS union has claimed that, by April, 2023, around 20,000 workers in HMRC and VOA (Valuation Office Agency) will be on the national minimum wage. Members of Prospect union claimed their members' pay had fallen 26% in real terms in 13 years.
