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| Civil servants' strike date set | Civil servants' strike date set |
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| More than 200,000 civil servants will take part in a nationwide strike on 10 November, a union has said. | More than 200,000 civil servants will take part in a nationwide strike on 10 November, a union has said. |
| The walkout will be followed by three months of industrial action in a row over pay, it announced. | The walkout will be followed by three months of industrial action in a row over pay, it announced. |
| It includes staff at the Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Coastguard Agency and Inland Revenue. | It includes staff at the Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, Coastguard Agency and Inland Revenue. |
| The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents 270,000 workers, is in dispute with ministers over a cap on public sector pay. | The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents 270,000 workers, is in dispute with ministers over a cap on public sector pay. |
| Future strikes could be co-ordinated with teachers and health workers who are also involved in a pay dispute, said the PCS. | |
| 'Worse off' | |
| The union said the strike was in protest at below-inflation pay deals in various departments, which also include museums, immigration and other government agencies. | |
| It also said civil servants were being left "significantly worse off" because they were denied increases when they reached the top of their pay grade, said general secretary Mark Serwotka. | |
| "This treatment is being meted out even though pay rates are extraordinarily low, with one in four of our members earning less than £16,500 a year," he said. | |
| He said there were still three weeks left to try to resolve the dispute but added that after five years the government "haven't delivered anything". | |
| The union argues that thousands of government employees earned just above the minimum wage and had been hit hard by caps on public sector pay increases. | |
| Mr Serwotka added: "The everyday things we take for granted, from passports and getting back into work through to tax credits, coastguards and securing our borders, are delivered by hard-working civil and public servants. | |
| "Giving these people pay rises that take their wages to just 13p or 25p above the national minimum wage is unsustainable when you face double-digit rises in food, fuel and housing costs." | |
| The union has held a series of pay strikes this year which have hit government services across the UK. | |
| In April, 100,000 civil servants walked out for 24 hours during a strike which coincided with action by the NUT teachers' union. |