Members of the civil service’s biggest union have failed to get a strike mandate to oppose a restructuring expected to result in the loss of up to 2,000 jobs at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
PCS launched a ballot of members at the department last month based on concerns about the FCDO 2030 programme, which has also attracted opposition from MPs.
However, results of the ballot – which closed yesterday – show that while union members who voted expressed strong support for strike action and action short of strike, not enough members took part to give the result legal weight.
PCS said that 76.9% of members had voted in favour of strike action, and 93.8% gave their backing to action short of strike, but only 48.8% of members at the department had cast ballots. Under current legislation, a 50% turnout is required to support industrial action.
The union said that members had delivered “a huge effort” to push back at an “unclear and discriminatory restructure” at FCDO. It added that if “a handful more members” had voted, the 50% threshold would have been reached.
“Out of those who voted, the support was overwhelming for action short of strike and strike action,” PCS said. “This is a workforce which hasn't been asked to vote on industrial action outside of national ballots for at least a decade, with many only joining a union for the first time since the restructure was announced.
“Despite the disappointment of just missing out on the 50% threshold, the result undoubtedly shows how angry members are at the job cuts, restructure and the way FCDO are going about it.”
FCDO has faced repeated calls to reconsider its restructuring proposals, which followed the imposition of a 17% reduction in the department’s administration budget in last year’s Spending Review. MPs have been part of that backlash.
Sarah Champion, who is chair of the International Development Committee, described the department’s planned headcount cuts as “incredibly short-sighted” given the number of ongoing international crises.
Dame Emily Thornberry chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said FCDO appeared to be “restructuring in order to restructure, while not looking first and foremost at what the Foreign Office is about, what we should be doing, and how we can ensure that we retain the expertise, the knowledge, the connections, the best people, in order to deliver those priorities”.
FCDO minister Chris Elmore last month said the resctructure aims to "build an organisation that is agile, innovative and equipped to seize the opportunities of the day".
He said the FCDO 2030 plans "build on deep expertise, which I know is a concern for colleagues, and on the professionalism and commitment that the civil service brings to Britain’s diplomacy and development work every single day".
"Our workforce reforms are designed to strengthen that foundation, with officials developing a clear sequenced strategy supported by a department-wide assessment of our skills, capabilities and requirements," he added. "We want to improve those things, not lessen them, and that can be done, among other things, through the skills audit."
Last week, PCS used the sacking of FCDO perm sec Sir Olly Robbins as a platform to call for FCDO 2030 to be paused.
Civil Service World sought an FCDO response to the ballot result.