Justice ground to a halt at the Old Bailey this week as court staff joined about 270,000 civil servants in a national May Day strike.
Just one usher and three court clerks turned up for work at Central London Criminal Court (the Old Bailey), which has 18 court rooms, according to Dave Cunningham, London regional secretary at the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS), which was organising the strike.
Croydon Magistrates’ court also closed while Bromley Magistrates, to which work had been transferred, was hit by severe delays.
London tribunals PCS branch secretary Eddie Pratt said about 80% of PCS members had come out on strike in the London area.
“Lack of morale is immense, people are uncertain of their future and many are jumping ship,” he says.
The PCS is calling for a no compulsory redundancies guarantee, fair national pay, decent working conditions and agreements to protect workforces in outsourcing.
Last week, court staff overwhelmingly rejected plans to introduce a “postcode” regional pay system that the union said would lead to workers earning different amounts of money across England and Wales.
Mark
