'Summer of discontent' looms as more than 100,000 key workers join teachers' strike

More than 100,000 civil servants said they will join teachers in a one-day walkout which could cripple key services across Britain on April 24.

Scroll down for more...

Union bosses warned the action will hit every part of the country with 10 government departments and agencies involved.

If the Government does not bow to their demands, union bosses warn that more strikes could take place over the summer.

Workers are furious about below-inflation pay increases at a time when many household bills are rising at their fastest pace since records began.

The Public and Commercial Services Union said yesterday that its workers are furious about below-inflation pay rises or pay freezes.

Millions of families already face disruption when teachers stage their first national strike for more than two decades later this month.

Yesterday the PCS union said its members will join the National Union of Teachers in the walkout in just 12 days' time.

Up to 200,000 teachers were already planning to strike, shutting many primary and secondary schools across England and Wales and putting others on a reduced timetable.

Mark Serwotka, the PCS general secretary, said below-inflation pay rises are an insulting pay cut for workers.

Their average pay rise is just two per cent, which is below the Government's measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index, currently 2.5 per cent.

To make matters worse, the Bank of England has repeatedly warned that inflation is expected to climb even higher this year.

He said: "The Government is alienating its own workforce by driving down the pay of some of the lowest paid in the public sector with a policy of below inflation pay caps and pay freezes."

Three Government departments - the Department for Work and Pensions, the Home Office and the Department for Transport - are involved.

Seven government agencies will also be affected - the Driving Standards Agency, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, the Highways Agency, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, the Vehicle Certification Agency, the Land Registry and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Teachers, coastguards, driving examiners, jobcentre and benefit staff are just some of the workers who will stage the one-day protest over pay.

The union claims that pay in the civil service is among the lowest in the public sector. About a quarter of workers earn less than £16,000.

A second strike by coastguard workers over pay yesterday closed about half of the UK's rescue centres, according to union bosses.

Paul Smith, union official, said: "Our main point is that our members fulfil their role as an emergency service, yet their pay levels have fallen way behind those in the police, fire and ambulance services.

"Even the management have acknowledged that we are about £4,500 below in pay to that of other comparable emergency services, which is not right."

One worker at Dover Coastguard, who declined to be named, said the general public would be shocked to discover how much they are paid.

He said: "I've been here 18 months and my basic pay is £12,500, with a 25 per cent shift allowance, but for that I have to work weekends, evenings, Christmas and Easter.

"From the outside, people assume that we are paid just the same as the other emergency services, but the reality is very different."