More than 3,000 civil servants announce new continuous industrial action

More than three thousand PCS members in four government departments have announced a programme of continuous industrial action from April 11.

The action will hit the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Forestry Commission, Rural Payments Agency and Marine Management Organisation.

It marks another escalation of the union’s long-running national dispute over pay, pensions, redundancy terms and job security and, as action short of strike, includes members taking a range of measures which will have a seriously detrimental impact on the employer's operations.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “This action further ratchets up the pressure on ministers to settle our dispute.

“Our members are showing no sign of backing down. They are standing up for themselves because they are fed up with being taken for granted.

“They demand the government holds meaningful talks with us and put some money on the table to give them a decent pay rise.”