Union also wants to persuade government to end outsourced contracts and give cleaning staff official jobs. UK politics live – latest updates. Downing Street could become a notably less appealing place to work in the coming weeks, with cleaners and catering staff at No 10 scheduled to begin a month-long continuous strike over pay and conditions. The strike, scheduled to last from 24 February to 25 March, is an extension of a wider dispute that has already taken place in a series of government departments, but will now be extended to No 10 and the Cabinet Office.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, which represents the workers, is seeking a pay rise and improvements to conditions in areas such as holiday entitlement, and, more widely, is trying to persuade the Labour government to bring staff currently employed by an outsourcing company into official roles. The staff, employed by the facility services firm ISS, work permanently in the departments. While the PCS says the decision on the dispute rests with the government, the Cabinet Office says it is a matter for ISS.
The month-long strike will include workers at No 10 and the Cabinet Office, as well as the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the Department for Education, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade. The PCS is covering their pay over the period. The involvement of No 10 cleaners is particularly resonant given the focus on their role during coverage of repeated lockdown-breaking parties in and around No 10 during Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister.
An official report into the parties cited incidents of red wine spills left for cleaners to deal with, and “multiple examples” of a lack of respect shown to cleaning staff and security officials. Staff at some of the departments have been on strike intermittently since October, but after another ballot of PCS members this will be extended. While the offices will be picketed, civil servants and ministers are free to cross these, as they are not involved in the dispute.
As well as the direct dispute on pay and conditions, the PCS is pressuring ministers to act on previous pledges to gradually end the outsourcing of jobs such as cleaning, catering and security in government departments. The union says a possible compromise on the current dispute is awaiting a decision by the Cabinet Office, but has been stuck for several months. Sign up to Headlines UK. Get the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning.
after newsletter promotion. The Cabinet Office rejects this, saying it is entirely up to ISS or other external employers to negotiate with the union. It adds that the contracts are also held by the Government Property Agency, an arm of the Cabinet Office that manages office buildings, rather than by specific departments. A PCS official said the current contracts with PCS and other outsourcing firms such as G4S and OCS run out in three years, and that talks about bringing people on to civil service contracts needed to start soon.
