10:29 am, November 11, 2021
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority workers won’t be taking strike action following a ballot that failed to reach the legal threshold.
The dispute began earlier in the year over Covid-safety, and it has been a major disruption for car dealers who have faced delays when dealing with the DVLA.
Despite 80 per cent of those who voted saying they wanted to continue taking strike action, only 40 per cent of those ballotted actually voted and that’s less than the threshold required of 50 per cent.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union say they are now urgently seeking to discuss the safety concerns with DVLA senior management.
A PCS spokesman said: ‘It is frustrating for members who have voted for industrial action that they have been denied their democratic right to strike, due to some of the most repressive anti-trade union laws in Western Europe.
‘Our members are our number one priority, and we will continue to campaign for their health and safety at DVLA and across the civil service.’
A DVLA spokesperson said: ‘We welcome the result of the PCS ballot today which shows that staff in DVLA did not support industrial action.
‘This clearly recognises that our workplace is as safe as possible and avoids further unnecessary disruption to millions of people.
‘Our focus, and the focus for all staff at DVLA,remains on processing applications as quickly as possible and helping motorists across the country to continue on their journeys.
‘Fewer than half of PCS members turned out to vote in support of industrial action, this is just 17 per cent of the entire workforce in DVLA.
‘The overwhelming majority of staff, more than 80 per cent, did not support further strikes in DVLA.’
