Workers at the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) have voted for a one day strike to be followed by selective strike action over plans to axe nearly a third of staff.
The LSC plan to cut approximately 1,120 staff in June. Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) who represent staff in the 47 councils across England are complaining that management is massively out of touch and are reported to be angered by the decision to make the redundancy selections via assessment centres.
Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary said: "It is unacceptable that staff are being treated like children in being forced to sit eleven plus style exams to keep their jobs. Added to this we have the irony of the LSC deviating from best practice on redundancies by effectively forcing people to reapply for their jobs rather than seeking to re-skill and retrain staff.
“Senior management need to recognise the damage on service delivery and demoralising nature that cuts on such a scale will have, otherwise as this ballot result clearly illustrates staff are prepared to strike."
Almost 90% of the PCS membership voted for strike action.
