Foreign Secretary cancels Scotland FCDO visit as strike action begins
The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy MP, has cancelled a visit to an FCDO office in Scotland next week as PCS member begin strike action over pay.
PCS members employed by outsourced OCS at the Foreign, Commonwealth Development Office in East Kilbride will walk out on Wednesday and Thursday in the dispute, with additional action to take place on 24, 25 and 26 September.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Whilst we are pleased the Foreign Secretary won’t be crossing our picket line, we believe he has a role to play in resolving the dispute.
“We would welcome a discussion about keeping his government’s commitment to ‘the biggest wave of insourcing of public services for a generation’.
“There’s no excuse for our members employed by OCS to be earning less than those working direct for David Lammy’s department. We call on him as the minister to meet with us urgently to discuss the dispute and the wider commitment to bringing our members in-house.”
PCS is also demanding an increase to annual leave and the introduction of company sick pay for those who currently have no entitlement to contractual sick pay.