TRADE union members at two major city employers will hold fresh strikes tomorrow, Wednesday, amid an ongoing row over civil servant pay.

Staff at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) will hold a second day of industrial action, alleging the "refusal of the [UK] government to enter negotiations to resolve the current pay and conditions dispute".

Both offices are located on the western edge of Newport, next to Tredegar Park.

Union members there went on strike in March, calling for the government to undo a decade of real-terms pay cuts, as well as addressing "job losses and redundancy terms".

The Prospect union said the government had "imposed a pay control of 4.5 per cent, which will further erode living standards, with inflation running at 10.1 per cent".

"This leaves civil servants with some of the worst pay settlements in the public sector this year." the union added. "Members’ pay has declined by at least 26 per cent since 2010 in real terms."South Wales Argus: Workers on strike outside the Intellectual Property Office in Newport. Workers on strike outside the Intellectual Property Office in Newport. (Image: Max Parker (@maxparkerphoto))

"Our members in the Intellectual Property Office and Office for National Statistics in Newport provide vital services to the country, but they are being singled out by a government intent on leaving its own workers at the back of the pay queue," said Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect.

"Why is this government treating its employees worse than anyone else in the public sector?

"For months we have been pressing ministers to put forward a serious offer that recognises the cost-of-living crisis facing our members. But instead of coming to the negotiating table, the government has published a pay control of 4.5 per cent for 2023-24, with nothing on the table for last year.

"This industrial action was entirely avoidable, but the failure by government to make a comparable offer to elsewhere in the public sector has made it inevitable."

In addition to the strike action, workers at the two sites have been taking action short of a strike continuously since March 16, including working to rule and an overtime ban.

Prospect said this was the largest industrial action the union had taken in more than a decade.

A UK Government spokesperson said: "Industrial action should always be a last resort, and discussions continue at official level with civil service unions. We urge them to recognise what is reasonable and affordable, as the whole country faces these cost of living challenges."