Image source, Getty Images By Rachel Russell & James Gregory BBC News More than 1,000 Passport Office employees will go on strike for 5 weeks over a disagreement about tasks, pay and conditions, unions state. Members of the Public and Commercial Services union working throughout England, Scotland and Wales will take part in the action from 3 April to 5 May. Those working in Belfast will strike from 7 April to 5 May. The union alerted of hold-ups to applications and the shipment of passports in the run-up to summertime. The Home Office stated it was “disappointed” with the PCS’s choice. A representative included: “We are working to handle the effect of strike action whilst guaranteeing we can continue to provide important services to the public, with extensive contingency strategies in location.” More than 4,000 individuals are used by the Passport Office throughout the UK, significance that according to the union figures around one in 4 employees will be strolling out. The union states strike action is being targeted to cause mass interruption and includes members working in departments which analyze passports – more than 1,300 individuals. The workplaces impacted in England, Scotland and Wales will consistof Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newport, Peterborough and Southport. At peak times – consistingof the month of April when the strike will take location – the Passport Office can get 250,000 applications per week, according to travel specialist Simon Calder. It implies that more than one million applications might be sentout throughout the strike duration, he stated. The Home Office states the strike does not impact its assistance which is still to permit up to 10 weeks to get a passport, with preparations under method to fulfill need. Current waiting times for veryfirst adult passports are simply over 18 d
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