Border Force crews who patrol waters including the English Channel for smugglers and small boat crossings have voted to strike.
The maritime officers are set to ditch their patrols in a ‘highly disruptive’ walkout, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union announced.
The vote, involving over 120 employees, saw an 80% turnout, with 96% backing strike action, the PCS said.
Staff have been waiting over six years for a payment review of their allowances, with Border Force management repeatedly missing deadlines, the union claimed.
More small boats crossed the Channel overnight, pushing arrivals past 36,000 this year – a third higher than this time last year.
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In a statement, the PCS union said its members were ‘sick to the teeth of being disrespected and undervalued by management’.
It added: ‘If it takes a highly disruptive strike to shake the employer into its senses, then they are willing to walk out from their patrols to achieve their aims.’
The announcement came one day after the UK border chief said it was ‘frustrating’ that French police were not doing more to stop ‘taxi boats’ crossing the channel.
Martin Hewitt, the border security commander at the Home Office, told MPs that French police were yet to deploy more interventionist tactics against incoming migrants.
Proposed techniques include puncturing and disabling boats carrying asylum seekers in shallow waters.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was central to Labour’s 2024 election campaign.
The government announced in August that it would give an extra £100 million in funding to support a migrant returns deal between Britain and France.
Labour was able to bring disruptive strike action to an end on election – agreeing deals with unions including the British Medical Association (BMA) and Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF).
But the threat of strike action has since reared its head again, with the government currently negotiating with the BMA over proposed resident doctors strikes.
Last month, Londoners endured five days of Tube strikes, centering on the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) union’s demands for a 32 hour working week.
Tube bosses have since made a pay offer to the transport trade unions to avert another strike on the network.
The Home Office was approached for comment.
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