ONS employees vote to strike in working-from-home dispute

Union says staff told to work from their office two days a week after previously being allowed to work from home since start of the lockdown.

PCS members at the Office for National Statistics have voted in favour of strike action in a dispute over workplace attendance (Philip Toscano/PA) (PA Archive)

Employees at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have voted to strike in a dispute over workplace attendance.

Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) backed industrial action by around three to one in protest at being told to work from their office for two days a week after previously being allowed to work from home since the start of the lockdown.

The union said home and hybrid working has been successful since the start of the pandemic, adding that managers had reassured staff that these arrangements would remain in place.

Fran Heathcote, general secretary of PCS, said: “ONS bosses have seriously undermined the trust and goodwill of their staff by seeking to drive this policy through in such a heavy-handed way, heedless of the consequences.

“They now need to immediately pause implementation of the policy and talk to us about reaching a sensible resolution of this issue, which does not carelessly disadvantage staff.”