RPA staff to strike on SFP deadline day
Rural Payments Agency (RPA) staff are staging a one-day strike on one of the busiest days for processing single farm payment applications.
The 24-hour stoppage on Wednesday (15 May) will involve RPA staff members whose deadline to receive SFP applications from farmers falls on the same day.
In total, more than 3,000 civil service and public service workers across 11 organisations, including DEFRA, Natural England, the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority will join the strike.
The walkout by environment staff is part of a three-month campaign of strikes and protests by the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union.
The strike starts a six-week programme of protests by members of the union who working in environment-related departments and forms part of a civil service-wide campaign over the government’s cuts to pay, pensions, jobs and working conditions.
Across DEFRA and its agencies a quarter of the workforce has been cut since 2010 and senior managers have imposed a new performance management system that the union says is “discriminatory and unfair”.
“The government should treat their staff with the respect they deserve and stop ignoring our reasonable requests to negotiate about the serious issues they are facing.”
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Whether it’s looking after British farming, protecting our countryside or managing our coasts, the work our members do is vitally important and touches all our lives.
“The government should treat their staff with the respect they deserve and stop ignoring our reasonable requests to negotiate about the serious issues they are facing.”
PCS strike action has already included national walkouts on budget day on 20 March and a long weekend of action from 5-8 April, as well as individual strikes by Home Office workers and last week staff in non-departmental public bodies.
This week, the union’s members who work for Scottish government departments and agencies and the Scottish parliament are involved in a range of strikes over three days.