Workers on UK government’s DBS contract to strike after rejecting pay deal
Workers at the outsourcing company that runs the call centres for the UK government’s criminal record checking services today set out plans to strike over pay and working conditions.
The action is set to see 80 members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) launch a six-day strike against government contractor Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS).
The strike plans come after 100 per cent of union members at the outsourcing firm’s Liverpool centre voted to reject HGS’s offer to up their pay by 3.25 per cent.
The action comes after the UK government first awarded the three-and-a-half-year contract to run the DBS checks to the Indian outsourcing company in 2019.
PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “Our members, many of whom are on just above minimum wage, believe the current offer is not acceptable, especially at a time when inflation is running above 10%.
“Like most other workers, our members are struggling with the Conservative cost-of-living crisis, which is why they have voted overwhelmingly to reject the offer and take strike action, and why PCS stands fully behind them.”
As part of the wider Hinduja Group, HGS acts as the Anglo-Indian conglomerate’s IT services provider, with revenues worth hundreds of millions.
First established as a trading company in Mumbai in 1914, the Hinduja Group has, over the previous century, expanded its offerings to cover 11 core sectors ranging from banking, to healthcare, to commodities.