New strikes planned by Equality and Human Rights Commission staff amid jobs row

Workers at the Equality and Human Rights Commission are to stage a series of fresh strikes in a long-running row over jobs.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union will walk out for 20 days between May 15 and June 9, hitting offices in London, Glasgow, Cardiff and Manchester.

The workers have already taken seven days of strike action since last November in protest at a number of redundancies.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "Our members only take strike action as a last resort but management's reluctance to adequately address their concerns have given them no choice.

"There are vacancies at the Commission and there is no reason why our members can't have those jobs.

"The fact that the Government has cut the Commission to a quarter of its original size demonstrates the Tories' lack of commitment to equality and human rights issues.

"Further budget and staff cuts would leave the Commission toothless at a time when more needs to be done to tackle hate crime and discrimination."

Rebecca Hilsenrath, EHRC chief executive, said: "The changes we are making will allow us to respond to the new challenges we face. I am proud of how well our staff have embraced this new way of working and our ambitious programme of work.

"We have made every attempt to end this dispute with the union and have offered them concessions at every stage of talks.

"We are now focused on delivering our business plan. We are unclear as to their rationale for continuing action."