Passport unions top up war chests with MILLIONS of pounds

Passport unions top up their war chests with MILLIONS of pounds before a summer of mayhem with strikes threatening to ruin holidaymakers’ plans

• PCS union has boosted its fighting fund, taking it to £4million
• Monthly membership fees have been increased by up to £5 to raise extra funds

Union barons are topping up their strike war chests as they gear up for a summer of chaos.

The PCS union, behind a five-week Passport Office walkout which threatens to ruin holidaymakers’ plans, has boosted its fighting fund by another £1million, taking it to £4million.

And despite the cost of living squeeze, it has increased monthly membership fees by up to £5 to raise an extra £600,000 a month.

In a message to members, the union said: ‘We know that some employers are already looking at how long the fighting fund will last. So, we must raise more money.’ The British Medical Association, behind this week’s junior doctors walkout, has launched a strike fund for the first time in its 190-year history.

It will pay qualifying strikers £50 a day in a bid to ‘promote higher participation in industrial action’, it said in a document to members.

Members of the Public and Commercial Service (PCS) picket outside the Department for Transport in London in February 

Prospect said its members will walk out on May 10 and June 7 across government departments and other areas such as the Met Office and Health and Safety Executive 

It sparked fresh calls on ministers to close a loophole which means strike pay is not taxed. The Royal College of Nursing, whose members yesterday rejected the Government’s latest offer, will use its war chest – topped up by £15million to £50million – to increase strike pay from £50 to £80 a day.

Once nurses have completed their fourth strike, payments will be upped to £120. It sets the scene for a summer of chaos after pay offers were rejected by postal workers, teachers, doctors and nurses, with all set to embark on fresh walkouts.

Unite has some £20million in political funds and the GMB union has £1.2million. Both represent ambulance workers, whose strikes have been called off while they also vote on the latest pay offer.

Yesterday the Prospect union, which also represents civil servants, said walkouts will take place on May 10 and June 7. There had been hopes in February that the issue could largely be resolved within months after several unions suspended strikes to enter intensive pay talks.

One union source said: ‘It’s likely to be a summer of discontent. There’s no other way.’ Critics last night said the war chests were proof that walkouts were politically motivated and not solely about pay.

Pictured RCN members during a previous strike on February 6. Nurses rejected a pay deal last night – raising fears they could co-ordinate future strikes with junior doctors

Pat Cullen (pictured: centre), the union’s general secretary and chief executive, said: ‘After a historic vote to strike, our members expect a historic pay award’

Tory MP Greg Smith added: ‘Millions of hard-working Britons will be appalled that while their lives are made miserable, the strikers are getting tax-free allowances to walkout.’

A BMA spokesman said: ‘The purpose of the strike fund is completely clear, and that is to support members in hardship to participate in industrial action.’ An RCN spokesman said: ‘After a historic vote to strike, our members expect a historic pay award.’

All unions and the Treasury were contacted for comment.

Fears at growing backlog 

Further strikes by NHS staff could make it impossible to bring down the number of patients waiting longest for operations, a health chief has warned.

Junior doctors in England have taken to picket lines for four days this week, with nurses due to stage further walkouts. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of NHS Confederation, said further industrial action would make it ‘almost impossible’ for the NHS to meet this year’s wait list targets.

It comes as the NHS elective care backlog, which covers all non-emergency procedures, has breached 7.22 million, a record.

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