PCS union (Image: Getty)
Civil servants have been branded “workshy, entitled and clueless” by Reform UK leader Richard Tice for demanding a four-day working week and 35 days holiday for the same wages.
The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union has called for a “significant shortening” to working hours but no reduction in salary, in a move that has sparked outrage from Conservative MPs and Reform UK.
Fran Heathcote, the general secretary of the PCS, wrote to the Cabinet Office to ask for a pay rise and more annual leave for her members.
More than 200,000 civil service workers are represented by the union across 213 government departments and agencies.
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Richard Tice at the Wellingborough by-election. The Reform UK leader branded the PCS 'workshy' (Image: Getty)
Writing to John Glen, the Cabinet Office minister, prior to the annual Civil Service pay review, Ms Heathcote demanded a “significant shortening of the working week”, but did not specify what she meant by this.
According to The Telegraph, the PCS would like to see the four-day working week implemented across the Civil Service.
Responding to the demands in the union’s note, Reform UK leader Richard Tice told Express.co.uk that the requests were “absurd”.
He said: “Absurd proposal from [an] out of touch union on behalf of failing civil service presiding over collapse of our public services.
Fran Heathcote at the National March for Palestine (Image: Getty)
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“This just shows they are workshy, entitled and clueless about how to get [the] economy growing again”.
The business tycoon’s sentiments were shared by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg who, according to the Telegraph, said civil servants should be at work “full-time” or “take a pay cut”.
This comes off the back of a petition by staff in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for a four-day working week with no pay cut, backed by the union.
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The PCS also demanded an “inflation-proofed” pay increase “plus pay restoration”, and a living wage of ￡15 per hour.
Ms Heathcote told Mr Glen that it “should be a matter of shame for a government employer” that some of her members were living in poverty, as she alleged they were.
What’s more, the letter also demanded a London wage uplift of at least ￡5,000 per year, and a minimum of 35 annual leave days for staff.
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