WORKERS striking for Covid safety at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Swansea won the unanimous backing of their PCS union conference today.

Delegates demanded the resignation of Transport Secretary Grant Shapps after hearing that he was the prime suspect for scuppering a deal that could have ended the dispute.

More than 600 Covid cases have been reported in recent weeks at the DVLA, where months of stoppages have followed management’s failure to introduce adequate safety measures.

Branch chair Sarah Evans told delegates that bosses had refused to tell staff who pulled the deal.

“We have to assume it was Shapps,” she said, demanding his resignation.

East Midlands delegate Steve Collington said that the strength shown by DVLA staff was “a tribute to reps who have come through a baptism of fire.”

Delegates heard that senior bosses had visited the site on just a handful of occasions, while CEO Julie Lennard was accused of lying to the transport select committee over the situation facing staff. 

General secretary Mark Serwotka said that the DVLA branch, along with support shown by the “Swansea six” MPs, represented “everything that is great about our union, adding: “It is a dispute that must be won.”