In brief...: Scientists in strike threat

May 23 2008

Public sector scientists, engineers, managers and other professionals will vote on strike action against below inflation pay offers of less than 2per cent.

At the Prospect union conference in Torquay, delegates representing 40,000 Government staff committed to a ballot on industrial action in the event of unsatisfactory pay offers.

With Bank of England Governor Mervyn King warning inflation could go as high as 3.7 per cent this year, unions are calling for Prime Minister Gordon Brown to lift his 2 per cent target for public sector pay rises.

Prospect said strike action by Government specialists would involve vets and animal health officers, forensic scientists, surveyors, vehicle inspectors, health and safety inspectors, defence scientists and logistics staff, museum curators and conservators and highways officers.

Dai Hudd, assistant general secretary of Prospect, called 2008 "a crunch pay round for public sector professionals after years of restraint".

He urged the union's 44 civil service branches to campaign for industrial action and to lobby MPs in marginal seats to put pressure on ministers.

Downing Street has said Mr Brown is determined to maintain discipline in public sector pay in order to keep a lid on inflation.