Olympic delays feared as border staff confirm strike

[muriel_volestrangler]

Home Office staff including border officials have confirmed plans for a strike on the day before the Olympics opening ceremony, threatening long passport queues at Heathrow airport when arrivals are predicted to be busiest.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union working in the Home Office, including 5,500 in the Border Agency, voted on Wednesday for industrial action. The general secretary, Mark Serwotka, has confirmed that a one-day strike will go ahead on 26 July, with a work-to-rule and overtime ban for the rest of the Olympic period. Next Thursday is forecast by Heathrow as the peak arrival day for sponsors and international media.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jul/19/olympic-delay-border-staff-strike

Well, it's their right, but I think it's a bad PR move by the union.

[non sociopath skin]

1. Difficult call, Mu. Were I Mr. Serwotka or one of his Executive, I'd be uneasy about the timing...

... but, then again, I don't have to try and make the Dog's Breakfast Formerly Known As The Border Agency work.

The Skin

[Anarcho-Socialist]

2. a strike that goes unnoticed is hardly going to be effectual

Yes it will inconvenience a lot of people, but then again it might make ministers think twice about cutting jobs and attacking workers' pay and conditions.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Strike on eve of Games called off

A public sector strike involving border staff due on the eve of the Olympics has been called off by union officials.
...
Government lawyers had been due at the High Court on Wednesday seeking an injunction to prevent the PCS strike.

They were to argue there had been a "procedural error" in the union's ballot of its members, including immigration and passport workers.

But on Wednesday morning, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka announced the suspension of the strike after "major progress" in the dispute.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18982453

A bit of manoeuvring going on about who blinked first, but it seems sure that it's off.

[dipsydoodle]

4. I give somewhat less

than a shit about the Olympics. The cost horrifies me and I think we were mental going for it back in 2005.

[non sociopath skin]

5. I agree.

The ultimate vanity project.

Particularly despicable now it's confirmed that Dave, Nick and Gideon's idiocy has landed us in a double-dip recession.

"There's no money left" = "there's no money left for YOU."

The Skin

[dipsydoodle]

6. More here :

Are 2012 Games one too many for London?

LONDON, July 24 (Reuters) - When the curtain goes up on the Olympic Games on Friday it will confirm London's place as the only city to host the summer sporting spectacle three times.

But could it be a Games too far?

London hopes to show off the city as a dynamic 21st century metropolis with shiny new buildings, nestling alongside the historic capital of Shakespeare and Dickens with its palaces and cathedrals.

For some critics, though, the Games represent a poisoned chalice.

http://www.reuters.com/london-olympics-2012/articles/2012/07/24/are-2012-games-one-too-many-london