DVSA workers vote to go on strike amid backlog of driving tests

Workers at the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) have voted overwhelmingly for strike action[1] in a row over plans to reduce a backlog of driving tests. More than 1,900 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union backed industrial action by 90.5% on a turnout of 59.21% in Scotland, England and Wales. The union confirmed strike dates will be announced in due course.

The union said its members, who carry out driving tests and approve people to be driving instructors, are in dispute with management over plans to reduce the tests backlog. The PCS union calimed the programme being driven by Transport Secretary[2] Mark Harper poses "significant safety risks" to test candidates and examiners, as well as an erosion of staff's terms and conditions.

Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, said: "To recover a backlog of tests that was their own making, Mark Harper and management in the DVSA have demonstrated that they are willing not only to jeopardise our members' safety and attack their terms and conditions.

"They are also showing scant regard for safety standards for driving test candidates. "This huge ballot result for PCS members at the DVSA indicates that that they are prepared to take highly disruptive strike action across England, Wales and Scotland to protect the integrity of the driving test and their existing terms and conditions. "Although they desperately want to see a reduction in waiting times, our members will not tolerate paying the price for political stunts and managerial failings that threaten to further undermine this vital public service."

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References

1. ^ strike action (www.glasgowlive.co.uk)
2. ^ Transport Secretary (www.glasgowlive.co.uk)
3. ^ Glasgow mum 'numb' after cancer diagnosis left her unable to work for a year (www.glasgowlive.co.uk)
4. ^ Car ploughs into Rutherglen ice cream shop before being set alight in deliberate blaze (www.glasgowlive.co.uk)
5. ^ Glasgow Live's Whatsapp Community here (chat.whatsapp.com)