Jacob Rees-Mogg has provoked outrage for suggesting civil servants “would not be noticed” if they walked out on strike.
Around 100,000 government workers are to stage a 24-hour strike next month in an escalation of a bitter dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced that its members in 124 government departments and other bodies will walk out on February 1st.
The union said it will be the largest civil service strike for years and signals a “significant escalation” of industrial action after a month of strikes by its members, including Border Force staff.
The stoppage will coincide with the TUC’s “protect the right to strike” day, which was announced in reaction to the Government’s controversial legislation on minimum service levels during industrial action.
A further 33,000 PCS members working in five more departments, including HM Revenue & Customs, are next week re-balloting to join the union’s national strike action.
But in a sign that the man once in charge of ‘government efficiencies’ cares not one jot about government workers, Rees-Mogg tweeted:
“If they are not in the office will anyone notice?”
The comment has been met with a flood of angry reactions.
We’ve picked out a sample of them below:
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