Cardiff workers at the British Council to go on strike over jobs and privatisation

Workers at the British Council’s Cardiff offices are to stage a three-day strike in a dispute over jobs and privatisation.

They will join other members of the Public and Commercial Services union in Belfast, Edinburgh, London and Manchester, who will walk out from June 15.

Members in countries including in Colombia and Iraq will also take part.

The new strike follows two days of industrial action earlier this year after the British Council management decided to go ahead with plans to make hundreds of staff redundant, and outsource large parts of the organisation.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Following two days strike action in March, we met with the chief executive of the British Council but he wasn’t prepared to give a guarantee that compulsory redundancies would be avoided.

“As a result, our members have escalated their action because these cuts will have consequences, not just for our members but for those who use the services the British Council provides.”

Ordinarily, the British Council generates hundreds of millions of pounds in revenue. This was not possible during the pandemic. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), the sponsoring department of the British Council, refused to provide a grant and instead offered a commercial loan with stringent repayment conditions.

The Public and Commercial Services union said that the CEO should push for a deal to repay the loan from FCDO that would see the avoidance of compulsory redundancies.