It’s on: Staff at FCA to go on strike tomorrow and Thursday in ‘historic first’ for City watchdog
It is confirmed: Staff at the Financial Conduct Authority are to go on strike this week in a dispute over pay and conditions.
Members of Unite at the financial regulator will walk out on Wednesday and Thursday, and stage a protest outside the organisation’s head office in London and another site in Edinburgh.
Unite said it will be the first industrial action at the FCA, though Morning Wire understands that fewer than 300 of the regulator’s 4000 staff actually voted in favour of the strike action.
The key issue is a reform to pay structures which will see the removal of routine payments – in theory labelled as ‘bonuses’ – and their replacement with performance-based pay grades.
The majority of staff will receive seven per cent pay rises this year, according to the FCA.
Further industrial action is planned on June 9 and 10 and July 5 and 6, and Unite members will work to rule from May 6.
Union members voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action in what Unite called a “historic first”.
Sharon Graham, Unite general secretary, said: “For the first time ever, the employees at the Financial Conduct Authority have voted for industrial action.
“They have made it very clear that proposed changes to staff pay and conditions are completely unacceptable.
“The FCA management must address the serious concerns of their employees.”