Thousands of Metropolitan Police civilian staff plan to strike for two days next week over the imposition of pay cuts, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) announces. The 48-hour stoppage on 12 and 13 February will coincide with the next planned Tube strikes by RMT and TSSA members and follows well-supported action by Met Police staff on new year's eve.
The PCS say that the the Met is not bound by the government's pay cap policy and the imposition of a below inflation 1% increase is in breach of an existing agreement. This is the first time the Met has done this instead of negotiating with the union that represents around 7,500 staff including 999 call handlers, support officers and those who work in custody suites and support victims of crime.
The union's members have reported an increase in police staff turning to payday lenders to get by – even though this could lead to disciplinary action being taken against them. The union says the MPS can afford to pay staff more after saving millions of pounds on police staff salaries in recent years due to job cuts.
As well as being "angry" about their pay, staff fear for their futures as the Met is considering privatising the work of about 4,000 civilian workers. The union is committed to trying to resolve the dispute and was in talks this morning with Met bosses.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "It ought to bring shame on the Met Police that staff who help to keep London safe are being driven into the arms of loan sharks because of low pay. The Met Police is not short of money and does not have to ape the government's politically motivated pay policies that have fuelled the longest decline in wages on record."
