As Labour bask in the chaos of public sector workers’ strikes, they should be careful what they wish for. It appears strike fever has reached their own backyard as their own parliamentary staff are threatening a strike over an unacceptably small pay offer.

This afternoon the Unite Parliamentary Staff branch announced that the 4.9% pay increase approved for them is “grossly inadequate” and “well below the 6.9% average wage increases in the private sector”. Ignoring the fact private sector workers don’t have half the job security, expenses or subsidised food and drink…

With no consultation from @CommonsSpeaker or @ipsaUK on our pay increase, our branch will now be exploring options for industrial action. pic.twitter.com/jGnMbu0hbY

— Parliamentary Staff Branch (@unitepsbranch) January 25, 2023

Unfortunately for Labour, Guido understands the Unite parliamentary branch is almost exclusively the refuge of their own staffers and is unlikely to hurt Tory MPs. While staffers would receive the 4.9% automatically, there’s nothing to stop MPs supplementing that with additional pay rises if they have a few quid lying around in their budget…

Two of Labour MP Grahame Morris‘s staffers have endorsed the threat of strike action, clearly dissatisfied that their own lefty boss won’t increase their pay.

Liverpool councillor and senior caseworker to Mick Whitley MP, Elizabeth Hayden, has slammed the low pay being handed out, saying she can’t wait to vote for industrial action if and when the ballot hits. For the record that’s the same Elizabeth Hayden who once questioned whether the Manchester Arena attack was a Tory false flag attack*…

Among other staffers appearing to endorse the strike action are two working for SNP MPs, a Taiwo Owatemi staffer and a Christian Wakeford staffer. He’ll soon be regretting crossing to Labour as his casework begins to pile up…

*Questions about why an MP has her on the books is an entirely different matter…