A PCS van driving up solidarity for the strike. Picture, Natasha Hirst
DVLA STRIKE GETS STRONG SUPPORT AS WORKERS DEMAND SAFETY AT WORK
2,500 WORKERS HAVE BEEN GOING INTO WORK DESPITE A RECORD 600 COVID CASES AND ONE DEATH
UNION SAYS SENIOR BOSSES WORK FROM HOME WHILST LOWEST PAID ARE TOLD TO GO IN.
Over 1,400 DVLA workers in Swansea have walked out on the first day of a four day strike over Covid safety. Members of the PCS union started their strike on Tuesday, after accusing bosses of failing to address the lack of safety measures at the large site in Morriston, Swansea.
600 DVLA workers on-site have tested positive for Coronavirus since September, with one fatality from the virus. According to the union, the workplace has the highest number of cases of any single UK workplace. Despite this, over 2,500 staff have still been going into the workplace every day, whereas during the first lockdown around only 250 went in to carry out essential tasks.
“None of this is necessary because every other UK civil service department has a majority of people working from home,” says Mark Serwotka, PCS General Secretary. “Yet the DVLA insists on 2,500 people going to work every single day, and we believe that is not safe.”
Serwotka says that the lowest paid workers are being put most at risk, and told to go into work whilst senior managers stay at home. “It’s really a scandal,” he says.
Bullied
The union has described the strike as effective, with 1,400 workers walking out on the first day of action. They say that only five members of staff boarded ten busses that turned up to collect them from work, showing “the huge number of DVLA staff who had refused to come in to work over their health and safety concerns.
Wales TUC Secretary Shavanah Taj said the “brave” workers should not be “bullied or pushed” into unsafe work.
Speaking at the #DVLA strike rally @walestuc General Secretary Shavanah Taj with a message of solidarity from Wales TUC and union affiliates – “no one should be bullied into a workplace that is unsafe” @shavtaj #SOSDVLA #DVLAunsafe pic.twitter.com/OMqvugkmke
— PCS fighting for Covid safety (@DvlaYes) April 6, 2021
The DVLA employs around 6,000 people in the Swansea area, with the vast majority at the Morriston site. PCS has around 3,300 union members working there, 71% of whom voted for strike action on a 50% turnout.
The walkout has already made an impact, with workers forcing management to remove around 300 desks and agreeing to a new risk assessment which has meant 300 workers are no longer being forced to come in. But the union says more needs to be done and well over 2,000 workers are still coming on site.
Scandal
The agency says they are following government guidelines, despite an official outbreak being declared in December when 350 cases were registered in a matter of weeks.
The strike at a government-run site shows the hidden scandal of workers being pushed into the frontline of the pandemic with no action taken against bosses putting them at risk.
In January, it was revealed that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had received 134,000 complaints relating to employers breaking Covid rules since the start of the pandemic, but had issued just 192 enforcement notices, and taken no further action against bosses.
During the second lockdown, many more non essential workplaces have remained open, with the government turning a blind eye. This underreported phenomenon has included offices, construction sites and universities.
According to ONS figures from January, workers in close contact jobs, where people are near to the public or their co-workers, were at higher risk of dying from Covid than the rest of the population. DVLA staff complain of being crammed into offices unnecessarily, and put at greater risk of contracting the virus.
Solidarity
The strike against unsafe working has received support from the labour movement, some politicians and even environmental activists.
A PCS van has been travelling around the DVLA sites and the local area to raise solidarity for the strike. And a strike fund, which anyone can donate to, has raised over £2,000 so far.
Over 100 people attended an online strike rally where PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, PCS reps, Shavanah Taj from Wales TUC and several local MPs spoke. A local DVLA union rep said that “messages of support and solidarity, coming in daily, have lit up our days”.
Meanwhile, environmental activists in Extinction Rebellion tied a banner to the site entrance declaring solidarity with the strike.
Extinction Rebellion banner drop at DVLA in Swansea where 100s of workers are on strike over health & safety.
— Adam Johannes (@DrRoundglasses) April 7, 2021
DVLA in Swansea is workplace with highest Covid-19 infection rates in UK.
Let’s build the red/green alliance of workers, unions &environmental direct action movement. pic.twitter.com/LyYqR1otzF
People can send messages of support to dvla@pcs.org.uk.
The union will host a second public strike rally on Friday 9 April at 12 noon to round off the week’s action. Anyone can register to attend on Eventbrite.
