Prospect members at HSE in Buxton to strike today

In addition to the strike action, workers have been taking action short of a strike continuously since 16 March, including working to rule and an overtime ban. This is the largest industrial action Prospect has taken in more than a decade.The Health and Safety Executive is an important employer in Buxton and the staff perform a vital public service providing scientific research and evidence that HSE requires to underpin its regulatory activities, protect people and places and make Great Britain one of the safest places in the world to work and do business..This second day of strike action is part of a dispute over pay and conditions, with the union saying its members’ pay has declined by up to 26% since 2010 in real terms.Prospect represents tens of thousands of specialist, technical, professional, managerial and scientific staff in the Civil Service. Members work at a wide range of employers, including the Met Office, Health and Safety Executive, Trinity House, Intellectual Property Office, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Natural England and UK Research and Innovation. They are among around 40 organisations where action will be taking place.Mike Clancy, General Secretary of Prospect, said: “Our members in HSE in provide a vital service to the country, but they are being singled out by a government intent on leaving its own workers at the back of the pay queue. Why is this government treating its employees worse than anyone else in the public sector?“For months we have been pressing ministers to put forward a serious offer that recognises the cost-of-living crisis facing our members. But instead of coming to the negotiating table, the government has published a pay control of 4.5% for 2023-24 - with nothing on the table for last year.“This industrial action was entirely avoidable, but the failure by government to make a comparable offer to elsewhere in the public sector has made it inevitable.”