Driving tests hit in strike

Courts, Jobcentres, driving tests and tax offices across the Black Country were today hit by major disruption as civil servants walked out for a day of industrial action.

The national strike, which involves about 200,000 workers, will also affect galleries and museums around the country.

It has been organised by the Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) in response to plans to cut tens of thousands of civil service jobs in line with the Government's 2005 Gershon review of efficiency in the public sector.

The row has flared over the refusal to give the union a guarantee that job cuts will not be achieved by compulsory redundancies. The union has also clashed with government departments over pay and the privatisation of civil service work.PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Those on strike today aren't faceless bureaucrats or high-flying mandarins, but people at the heart of public services providing the everyday things we take for granted, from passports, tax and benefits to driving tests and courts.

"Today's strike illustrates the depth of anger over the damage crude job cuts are having and the growing frustration over below-inflation pay offers.

"If the Government are to avoid the prospect of more strikes and disruption, then they need to give assurances over jobs, services and privatisation as well as making serious headway in tackling pay inequalities and low pay in the civil service and related bodies."

Cabinet office minister Pat McFadden, who is also MP for Wolverhampton South East, said the walkout was unnecessary. He said: "No organisation, including the civil service, can be immune from the need for change, both to ensure value for money for the public and to adapt to new technology."

By Daniel Pountney