01.02.1996

Step up the action

CIVIL SERVICE workers in the Employment Service are still on strike against low pay. Following the one-day strike on November 10, 40 offices have remained on indefinite strike, and were joined by 10 others on January 15. Several more offices are joining the strike this week as part of the selective action.

The rightwing CPSA leadership has now called a ballot of its 20,000 members in the Employment Service. It recommends regional action by the end of the month, building up to an all-out strike.

The Socialist Caucus, which has played a leading role in the strike at a rank-and-file level, called for a massive ‘yes’ and condemned the ‘Left Unity’ leadership for its failure to campaign, betraying “a deliberate attempt to lose the vote”. The Caucus states that the building of a national strike committee is long overdue and wants to link this pay campaign with the fight against Job Seekers Allowance that rank-and-file activists are waging in the CPSA Benefits Agency and Employment Service sections.

Peter Manson