Civil service union attacks Jobcentre staff cuts

Submitted by Matthew on 30 June, 2010 - 6:20 Author: Matthew Thompson

The civil service union PCS has attacked the announcement by the Department for Work and Pensions to cut 8,000 staff working in Jobcentres.

In a press release, the union points out that the staff involved who are on fixed-term contracts were only hired last year with unemployment rising and as a direct result of the decision by Gordon Brown as Chancellor to slash 100,000 civil service jobs, including 30,000 in DWP.

Now with more job cuts threatened across the public sector and those on incapacity and disability benefits being forced to seek work, Jobcentre staff are themselves facing the dole queue and claimants even less support than now.

As ever the question is, beyond the vagueness of "seeking to work with other unions and campaign groups to form the widest possible alliances to defend communities across the UK from the devastating social impact of the government's cuts to the welfare state", what action is the self-proclaimed Marxist leadership of PCS itself prepared to call against what is surely the first of many attacks from the Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition?

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