Ministers’ failure to engage with unions being replicated across civil service

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps’s apparent failure to engage with trade unions, as being reported extensively in relation to rail strikes, is being replicated across government, in particular in the civil service.

 

Prospect and the FDA last month wrote to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Steve Barclay asking for a meeting after it was announced that 91k civil service jobs would be cut. No one has even replied to the request and no meeting has taken place.

Prospect has written again to Mr Barclay demanding that he and his government show unions the respect that they deserve and get around the table.

General Secretary of Prospect Mike Clancy said:

“It’s now more than a month since the government announced 91,000 job cuts in the Daily Mail and neither Steve Barclay nor any other minister has taken the time to meet with civil service unions, or even replied to our letter.

“This level of contempt is indicative of a government that has no answers to our questions about how they expect to deliver this level of cut while maintaining vital services. They have no plan just an arbitrary number on a sheet of paper.”