PCS union workers picketed outside Wrexham job centre

Tens of thousands of Public and Commercial Services Union members joined strike action, with hundreds of picket lines across the country as the largest civil service strike for over a decade caused disruption to services.

Union members in 124 government departments along with several other bodies reportedly walked out on Wednesday, February 1.

The action is an escalation of a long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

PCS has been calling for a 10% pay rise, better pensions, job security and no cuts to redundancy terms.

It said a further 33,000 union members in five more government departments, including HMRC, are re-balloting next week to join the strike action.

READ MORE: DVLA staff to begin five-day strike over pay, pensions and jobs

Wrexham members picketed outside Wrexham job centre in the morning before joining the unions march from Bellevue park to Queen's Square followed by a rally. 

John Mooney, branch secretary for public and commercial services union North East and North Wales branch, said: "Today we are on strike – supporting the overall coming together of other trade unionists.

John Mooney - PCS Branch Secretary North East and North Wales (Image: The Leader - Newsquest)

"For our union we want to see fair pay for our workers, stop the overpayment of our pensions and carry on with better conditions."

Employees of public sector bodies including Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) took part in the action.

According to Mr Mooney there are around 27,000 members at the department for work and pensions that are currently earning a wage that will be below national minimum wage come April 1. 

READ MORE: "Pay teachers like our future depends on it" - Union members hold rally in Wrexham

Mr Mooney added that those working in the DWP are experiencing 'high case loads' which is causing an added strain. 

He continued: "We want to make sure we can continue to provide a good service to our claimants, who are some of the most vulnerable members of society."

Rally at Queen's Square, February 1 (Image: The Leader - Newsquest)

February 1 marked the largest scale strike day in over a decade with a predicted half a million workers taking part in the industrial action. 

READ MORE: 'Shame it's had to come to this' - Strikes lead to Flintshire school closures

Discussing the significance of the mass strike Mr Mooney said: "More and more people are just saying we have had enough over 10 years of pay restraint and the cost of living crisis. People are wanting to send a strong message to the government and their employers and say we can’t go on like this. 

"It’s not fair for people to be struggling so much, for nurses to be using foodbanks or PCS members to be using foodbanks.

"For so many people who administer Universal Credit to have to actually claim it themselves because they are so low paid – it isn’t fair."

Around 1,000 Border Force officers in Dover, Calais, Coquelles and Dunkirk, in the PCS union are to go on strike for four days during the February half-term school holidays, PCS has announced. 

The further strikes will take place on February 17,18,19 and 20. 

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are extremely disappointed with the union’s decision to strike and the inconvenience this will cause to travellers and businesses.

“We continue to work closely with all affected ports to assess the impacts of this announcement. Whilst we have robust plans in place to minimise any delays, passengers should be prepared for disruption and take action to plan ahead.   

“Those intending to travel or ship goods into the UK over strike days should keep up-to-date with the latest advice from operators to check how the strike action will affect them.”