Civil servants vote for strike ballot over cuts
Members of the British Public and Commercial Services union will vote on striking over the next few weeks. 250,000 workers will vote whether to strike or not, and any strike action could possibly coincide with teachers, who are also beginning strike ballots next week. The government says that it has done everything it can to spare public sector workers, but that they have to do something. The union says that tens of thousands of jobs will be cut over the next few years, and that remaining workers will see pay cut and benefit costs increase. The result of the ballot will be announced in mid-June.
See "Civil servants vote for strike ballot over cuts", BBC News Online, May 17, 2011