PCS has warned that jobcentre workers are ready to take further strike action if their employer does not scrap planned job cuts.
Jobcentre security guard staff have already staged several waves of strikes in recent months over pay.
The PCS union has now written to the Department Work and Pensions to raise concerns about plans to cut around 25 security guard positions across the country’s jobcentres. It is asking the department to stop any planned reductions and to restore security guards levels where jobs have already been cut.
The security guards are employed by G4S, a private contractor that provides security workers for jobcentres.
PCS said it is “scandalous that the DWP are allowing G4S to reduce security staffing at a time when there are increasing numbers of serious incidents in jobcentres and public safety is being threatened by the rise of violent activity by the far-right”.
Cuts of between one and three jobs are being considered at 17 jobcentre sites, according to a document seen by CSW. In a further four jobcentres, an increase of one security guard is being considered.
PCS said DWP has allowed G4S to undertake “risk assessments” at sites where it is proposing that numbers of guards are reduced or removed, but “failed to consult with PCS health and safety representatives as is legally required”.
PCS said it has consulted with members in Sudbury and Mildenhall in Suffolk, where security guards have been removed entirely. It said its members at these sites “have been subjected to serious incidents in the past and feel very vulnerable as a result of the closure of local police stations, meaning that members can no longer rely on a swift intervention by the police”.
The union said its members in Sudbury and Mildenhall are prepared to take strike action in support of the reinstatement of security guards and in protection of their safety.
PCS said it is hoping to meet DWP officials to discuss the situation and find a solution that avoids the need to formally ballot members. But it added that if a satisfactory outcome cannot be achieved, it will ballot members for industrial action.
Fran Heathcote, PCS's general secretary, said: “Security guards play a vital role in keeping both staff and the public safe. Government buildings have been at the forefront of attacks by right-wing extremists. It is madness for DWP to be allowing G4S to cut the numbers of security guards at a time when we are witnessing unprecedented social unrest.”
A DWP spokesperson said: “We take the safety and security of our staff and customers extremely seriously, ensuring all our jobcentres have the right levels of staffing in place that they need.
“We regularly monitor security and safety using a robust risk assessment process and continue to engage with trade union colleagues on this”.