|
London: Travellers making a last-minute dash for a passport could be disappointed as passport workers began a three-day strike on Wednesday over pay and office closures.
Nearly 3,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union working at regional passport offices as well as 68 interview offices were expected to walk out during one of the busiest times of the year.
Interviews will be cancelled while ordinary passport applications are set to face processing delays, the union warned.
The dispute at the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) centres around a below-inflation 2.5 per cent pay offer, which the union says excludes its longer-serving members who will have received no pay rise for the fifth year in a row.
Inflation is currently running at 3.8 per cent - its highest level in more than a decade. They are also striking over the prospect of four of the seven regional offices closing.
Plans have already been drawn up to close the Glasgow passport office which could see more than 100 jobs go, it said.
"The union fears that resources are being diverted from passport processing to the controversial introduction of ID cards," the union said in a statement.
The National Identity Scheme is to be rolled out for the public from 2011/2012, offering everyone a choice of a separate identity card, passport or both.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, added: "The closure of the Glasgow passport office and the threat to a further unnamed three is fuelling the anger over the government's policy of below inflation pay.
|
