Angry at devastating job cuts and the benefits system being run down, 80,000 staff in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) took strike action for two days at the end of January.
In the eyes of many of the strikers, members of the civil service union PCS , the action was long overdue.
They want to build on the impact the action had on call centres and large benefit processing centres and on the
New Labour wants to cut the cost of the benefit system, by cheating hundreds of thousands of claimants out of Incapacity Benefit and axing 30,000 jobs in the DWP by 2008.
Already 15,000 of these civil service jobs have gone and now the government wants to axe anther 15,000 jobs by 2008 and relocate a further 10,000 jobs from London. (A leaked DWP report shows bosses are considering offshoring some work to India.) The service for claimants is collapsing as a result.
The centralisation of services has caused greater misery for claimants as they wait longer for their benefits to be paid. The Government admitted recently that a third of calls to (understaffed) DWP call centres for new claims appointments go unanswered.
As most customers ring call centres from local offices due to cost, there has been a huge increase in incidents of violence and abuse against DWP staff in such offices as desperate claimants react to hanging on the telephone for hours.
DWP jobs are being axed even in politically sensitive areas like Pensions, Fraud and the CSA.
More workers are suffering stress. Workloads are being increased and DWP bosses are trying to sack more staff on sickness grounds to reach their Job cuts target.
The Union is now demanding a moratorium on job cuts but to really help DWP members to win their battle it needs to consider further, urgent measures.
Pulling out key offices again for short periods on strike pay to cause severe disruption will be crucial, in addition to calling further national strikes of an extended duration.
Support must be built for the Union's overtime ban with the picketing of offices organised where overtime is being worked and a national levy introduced on all members in support of these actions.