Yesterdays strike by more than 200,000 civil and public servants caused disruption across the UK with courts, museums, jobcentres, tax and benefits offices and enquiry points either closed or offering no service to the public. E-Government services took up some of the public demand yesterday & showed that web transaction can be of real value.

The second one-day stoppage by members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) across 200 government departments, agencies and non-departmental bodies is an escalation of a dispute over job cuts, pay and privatisation, prompted by the government and civil service managements refusal to hold direct negotiations or agree to conciliation through ACAS.

Across the country, examples of disruption include:
The Department for Education and Skills public enquiry line is closed for the day with customers advised to look at the website, email enquiries or in an emergency call the main switchboard
Jobcentres, benefits offices and tax offices either closed or operating on skeleton staff with no service offered to the public
Courts across the country either closed or majority of hearings cancelled, including at the Old Bailey where only three of 20 courts are open
More than 90% of Scotland’s civil servants on strike with picket lines at every government office in Scotland
Museums and galleries closed or operating rundown service, including most major London museums
Significant number of members at the Serious and Organised Crime Agency on strike, with only emergency cover provided
English Heritage sites, such as Eltham Palace in London, closed

More : publictechnology.net