Saturday marks a strike by two workers in Britain.
Ambulance drivers, teachers, Border Force staff and power plant workers have already downed tools this week.
Today, staff at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) in Liverpool are walking out as part of a national campaign over pay, pensions, job security and redundancy conditions.
Those at Toxteth Jobcentre, Liverpool Duke Street Jobcentre, Liverpool City Jobcentre and Liverpool Innovation Park Jobcentre will be ringing.
Unions have warned that its lowest paid members earn just £21,000 a year.
But the DWP insists the pay rise “would cost the country £2.4 billion at a time when our focus must be on reducing inflation to ease the pressure on households across the country”.
Members of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea and Birmingham are also engaged in a similar dispute.
Those working at Drivers Medical have been called to strike for six days in total but have been promised their full wages by the union.
A DVLA spokesman previously said: “It is very disappointing that PCS is incentivising union members by paying them to take part in the action.”
More departures announced
Yesterday, junior doctors in England revealed they would strike for three days next month in an increasingly bitter dispute over pay.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said workers had “no choice” and would walk out from March 13 after voting overwhelmingly in favor of industrial action earlier this month.
The BMA said junior doctors called on Health Secretary Steve Barclay twice last week to meet them urgently, but added no date had been set.
A meeting with Department of Health civil servants earlier this week yielded nothing in terms of substantive progress, the BMA said, adding that the minister declined to attend.
Co-chairs of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee, Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi, said patients and the public needed to know the blame for the strike “lays squarely at the government’s door”.
They said: “The fact that so many junior doctors in England voted yes to strike action should leave ministers in no doubt whatsoever about what we have known for a long time and have been trying to tell them, we are discouraged, angry and no longer have any doubt. willing to work for wages that have fallen in real terms by more than 26% over the past 15 years.
“That, along with the stress and exhaustion of working in an NHS in crisis, has brought us to this moment, brought us to a 72-hour walk out.”
The British Dental Association has announced that hospital-based dentists employed under the junior contract will take part in a 72-hour strike after voting in favor of industrial action.
Eddie Crouch, chairman of the organisation, said: “This small but important group of dentists work under the same contracts as their medical colleagues and like them are not worth a penny less than they were 15 years ago.
“Our members will stop the exercises until the government comes back to the table with a serious offer.”
Miriam Deakin, director of policy at NHS Providers, said the strikes would lead to “significant impacts” on care.
He said: “Trust leaders are deeply concerned about the details of next month’s 72-hour strike by BMA junior doctors.
“The potential for complete work stoppages by striking junior doctors during this period, including night and on-call shifts, will have significant implications for patient care.
“This unprecedented scale of industrial action in the NHS threatens to cause serious disruption to patients, which is the last thing anyone wants. It is also likely to hamper the hard work of NHS staff to tackle backlogs and meet voluntary targets.
“We understand that junior doctors feel they have been pushed to this point by factors such as below-inflation pay rises and huge workforce shortages.
“As always, trust leaders will work steadily to ensure that disruption to strike dates is minimized but action is desperately needed at national level to end this.”
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