Bank of England to embark on first strike in 50 years

Trade union members at the Bank of England, Britain’s central bank, will go ahead with the first strike action by staff for over 50 years on Tuesday, the Unite union said on Monday.

Last-minute talks facilitated by a government-run arbitrator failed to resolve the pay dispute with the bank, the union said after it agreed to delay the start of strike action “in a gesture of goodwill”, the union said.

Some 95 per cent of staff in maintenance, security, and other service roles voted earlier this month for four days of strike action from Monday over a long-running pay dispute.

“The strike will now take place from Tuesday to Thursday,” the union said.

“Unite members are calling on the Bank of England to give staff fair pay following the imposition of a derisory pay settlement without negotiating with recognised union Unite.”

It said that the dispute was caused by the bank’s imposition of a 1 per cent increase on its total wage bill for the current financial year, while it leaves rises for individual staff at the discretion of line managers.

The bank is yet to comment on the planned strike.