Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union employed by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office began a 24-hour walk-out today after talks over compulsory redundancies collapsed. Picket lines formed outside King Charles Street in Whitehall, the secure Hanslope Park passport facility, and Abercrombie House in Scotland from 08:00. Further stoppages are scheduled for 22, 23, 29 and 30 July. Although UKVI handles most visa processing, the FCDO provides emergency travel documents, legalisations and consular notarial services that mobile employees often rely on at short notice. PCS warned that “strike action will inevitably lengthen turnaround times for passports issued overseas and certification of documents required for visa applications.” In some smaller missions, the majority of locally engaged consular staff are union members. Global firms with expatriate staff in crisis-prone locations were already jittery after a series of cyber-incidents hit FCDO systems earlier this year. Several corporate travel departments told Global Mobility News they are advising travellers to check passport validity well in advance and, where possible, to route urgent legalisation work through commercial agents in the UK rather than embassies abroad this week. The dispute centres on a restructuring programme that PCS claims could lead to compulsory job losses. Management says redundancies will be “a last resort” but has refused to provide the no-compulsory-redundancy guarantee unions demand. Observers note that the walk-out could pile pressure on ministers, coming during the peak summer holiday season when demand for lost-passport replacements soars. Should the strike escalate, contingency plans include redeploying managers with consular training and extending call-centre hours, but PCS argues that such measures cannot replicate on-the-ground expertise. Mobility managers are therefore urged to monitor FCDO service alerts and build extra lead-time into any overseas document requests during July.
Source: Counterfire / PCS strike notice
