Hundreds of security guards working at Department for Work and Pensions jobcentres and offices could take further strike action in an ongoing dispute over pay and terms and conditions.
The PCS union is balloting 650 of its members who work on G4S’s security contract with DWP.
The ballot follows months of industrial action last year by security guards in both the PCS and GMB unions on the G4S contract, which at one point forced dozens of jobcentres to close.
In October, GMB members voted to accept a revised pay offer from the contractor that saw most staff paid £11.76 an hour – 32p higher than the National Living Wage, the legal minimum for employees aged 21 or over.
However, PCS members rejected the offer. The union is pushing for a minimum of £15 an hour, plus additional pay for London weighting and a pay differential for supervisors.
It is also calling for a series of improvements to terms and conditions including sick pay from day one for all staff, improved safety for G4S guards including better and more effective safety equipment, and 30 days’ annual leave on top of bank holidays.
The union wants G4S to provide staff with three months’ sick pay, rising for each year of service to five months; an entitlement to a month’s redundancy pay for every year of service; and for the working week to be reduced without loss of pay.
And it is asking the outsourcer to pay for Security Industry Authority licences – a requirement for the job – and allow paid time off for SIA training.
Finally, the union wants G4S to undertake an equal pay audit; and to take action to close its gender and race pay gap by 2030, end zero-hours contracts and to agree a company-wide disability action plan.
The union said it had made “a number of attempts to get G4S and DWP around the table to discuss our very serious demands on pay and terms and conditions”.
“We believe G4S has failed to meet its contractual obligations and have called on DWP to sanction G4S for its contractual failures. Despite our concerted efforts, both the department and G4S have refused to engage with us and left the union with no choice but to ballot members for further strike action,” it added.
PCS DWP group president Angela Grant said: “Our security guards put themselves between staff and claimants every day, with an increasing threat of violence. As government policies are pushing people into dire circumstances our members are bearing the brunt of their frustrations as they are trying to survive in poverty conditions.
"We want to meet with the government to fix the broken social security system and meanwhile we expect our guards to be protected, so that they can safeguard DWP staff. Our guards should be given the decent pay, term and conditions that reflect their status as key frontline workers.”
The strike ballot will close on 28 February.
A G4S spokesperson said: "We are disappointed that the PCS are balloting for strike action when they are aware that pay negotiations are currently underway with the GMB which has collective bargaining rights for the DWP contract. We have urged the PCS to allow this process to reach a conclusion."