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ONS Staff Vote To Strike Over Return-To-Office Directive

By Nithya Bose in Business News, posted April 9, 2024

Office for National Statistics (ONS) employees are preparing for a strike following a dispute over mandates to return to the office.

The issue sparked when staff, who had been working from home since the pandemic, were instructed to work in the office for two days weekly.

This directive came despite earlier assurances of continued remote work flexibility.

The shift prompted a strong reaction from the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS).

The union members voted in favor of industrial action by a significant margin, expressing discontent with the sudden change.

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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.”

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