PCS strikers defiant in ongoing dispute with G4S
After 11 days of strike action, G4S security guards at DWP sites are defiant, undeterred and gearing up for further walkouts next week in their ongoing dispute over pay.
In the dispute with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) hundreds of PCS members working as security employed under an outsourced contract with G4S have shown great support for the strikes.
Pickets in Middlesbrough were reportedly loud and vibrant. Members there were buoyed by solidarity videos sent from the Durham Miners’ Association, from Northern TUC’s regional secretary Liz Blackshaw, and from UCU.
Hackney jobcentre was forced to close on Thursday, with security guards picketing outside and making plenty of noise. Their chants demanding fair pay from G4S could not be ignored.
Finsbury Park jobcentre had a fantastic, joyful atmosphere. Their rapper-in-residence, The Marksman, gave strikers songs calling for fair pay. Despite failing to meet its own health and safety requirements on guard staffing, the jobcentre still opened.
Stratford strikers had plenty of support on the picket line from the public, with lots of speeches and members coming forward as activists and speaking at trades councils. Meanwhile, the Kennington picket was huge, spreading out along one of the main roads into London: there was reggae playing, lovely sunny weather and lots of tooting horns showing support for the strikers.
PCS strikes at DWP will continue from 29 July to 4 August.
Read further details on the strikers’ hardship fund and how to give solidarity messages. Details of next week's picket lines will be published later this week.
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