Wave of strikes reaches heart of UK diplomatic service

Pars Today – As the annual conference of Britain’s ruling party gets underway in Liverpool and protests over the government’s performance intensify, protesting Foreign Office staff are also walking off the job in response to a sweeping plan to cut jobs and growing job insecurity.

According to Pars Today, citing IRNA, the UK’s Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced that its members at the Foreign Office will go on strike on Monday, September 28, and form protest pickets outside the ministry’s buildings in London and East Kilbride, Scotland.

Under the announced plan, Monday’s strike will last all day, with staff gathering from 8 to 10 a.m. outside the Foreign Office’s headquarters on King Charles Street in London and Abercrombie House in East Kilbride.

The action follows a half-day strike by Foreign Office staff on Thursday and has been timed to coincide with the Labour Party’s annual conference in Liverpool. The conference runs from Sunday through Wednesday, with senior government ministers scheduled to deliver speeches on the policies and future plans of the ruling party.

The PCS union said Monday’s strike was deliberately scheduled to coincide with UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s speech at the Labour Party conference, in an effort to increase pressure on him to intervene directly in the staff dispute.

Protesting staff say the Foreign Office restructuring plan has put the job security of thousands of employees at risk, while the ministry’s management has yet to provide clear assurances that compulsory redundancies will be avoided.

According to the union’s assessment, full implementation of the plan could result in the loss of around 2,000 jobs, equivalent to nearly 25 percent of the ministry’s workforce.

Changes to the pay system and a move toward performance-related pay are also among the main points of contention. Staff say the system could widen disparities in employees’ pay and heighten their concerns about their job security.

According to the union, dozens of UK Foreign Office employees have faced psychological pressure, anxiety and concerns about their future employment during the restructuring process.