ONS staff vote to continue industrial action over office attendance row
Workers at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have voted to continue taking industrial action in a dispute over office attendance.
More than 1,150 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) based in Newport, Titchfield in Hampshire, London, Darlington, Manchester and Edinburgh, have been refusing to spend at least 40% of their time in the office.
Their six-month strike mandate ran out at the beginning of April, so the union re-balloted its members and announced a vote in favour of continuing with action, including refusing to work overtime, out of hours and out of grade.
‘Resolve’
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “This is the third time we’ve won a ballot in this dispute and participation has increased considerably each time, reflecting the growing resolve among PCS members at ONS to not accept arbitrary office attendance targets.
“These targets do nothing to improve productivity and everything to disrupt the lives of ONS staff.
“This refreshed mandated will allow our members to continue to blend office and homeworking arrangements to best suit the needs of their work and their teams.”
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Two days a week isn’t unreasonable. Anyone with particular difficult travel arrangements could be offered hotel vouchers or similar support.
Don’t people know what is involved when seeking employment?
WFH is great. Employers should offer it as the norm where possible.
Jebus, Mogg advising this lot?
Statistically, I believe getting rid of 100% of the staff will have 0% effect on the country.
You can’t manage what you don’t measure. The ONS is essential for good governance.