Magistrates' staff vote to strike

Members of two unions voted to hold a 24-hour strike

Magistrates' court workers have voted for the first strike in the service's 800-year history in a pay dispute.

The 24-hour stoppage in courts across England and Wales is expected to take place before Christmas.

A total of 80% of 7,800 staff in the Public and Commercial Services Union voted to strike over what they said was a below-inflation pay offer of 2.2%.

The Department of Constitutional Affairs said the offer was worth 3.7% on average.

A spokeswoman said individuals at the top of their scale would get 2.2% and those who were not - 50% of those affected - would receive 5.2 %.

"We are disappointed with the result of the ballot and there is still time for industrial action to be averted," she said.

The action is set to involve staff who run courts and provide advice to magistrates, including clerks and ushers.

'Low pay'

Nick McCarthy, a senior official with the Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) said the workers were angry about the latest government offer.

"These are low paid staff and they go into an organisation where they see other civil servants getting paid, in virtually every situation, more than them," he said.

"And all they can see with this pay settlement is their pay getting worse by comparison.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said 51% of administration staff working in magistrates' courts outside London earned less than £14,000 annually.

Mr McCarthy added: "This is not a militant group of members and what we really want is a settlement and we want the department to start talking to us and to go back to Treasury and get some more money to improve these low pay levels. "

Members of the Prospect union, which represents around 120 senior legal advisors in the magistrates' courts, also voted for strike action.

Officials at Prospect say they are working with PCS to find a date for the strike.

The Department of Constitutional Affairs said it had "robust contingency plans" in place to enable essential services to be delivered if industrial action was called.