Hundreds of civilian staff at the Metropolitan Police are to take strike action in a dispute over flexible working, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has said
The Metropolitan Police is bracing for a walkout as hundreds of its civilian staff are set to strike over a row concerning flexible working arrangements.
The Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) has announced that approximately 350 members will walk out from March 17 to 28. This follows a similar action taken last month by other unionised members of the Met’s civilian workforce.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “There is no reason why our highly skilled and hard-working members need to come into the office. They don’t have public-facing jobs and have been working very efficiently from home.
“We call, once again, on managers to meet with us and resolve this dispute to the benefit of us, them and the wider London public.”
In response, a Met spokesperson assured the public, saying: “The vast majority of our hard-working staff are complying with the new hybrid working policy. We are aware the union has announced its intention for a further strike and we are currently working through the impact this may have on the organisation.”
They added, “Public services like call handling and other frontline roles will be not be affected but, as you would expect, we will have full contingency plans in place.”
The spokesperson also highlighted the ongoing dialogue with staff and trade unions: “We have been engaging with our staff and trade unions for over a year on this policy, which is in line with many other organisations. Ultimately, this is about our commitment to delivering a better service for Londoners. We remain committed to continuing discussions with PCS to resolve the dispute.”
