PCS elections

Ballot papers out: vote Democracy Alliance

PCS union activists protesting against the public sector pay cap, 31.3.17, photo Chris Newby

PCS union activists protesting against the public sector pay cap, 31.3.17, photo Chris Newby   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Marion Lloyd, Left Unity chair and PCS executive committee member (personal capacity)

On 20 April ballot papers for the PCS executive committee elections will be posted out. It is vital that local reps act quickly to persuade members to vote for the Democracy Alliance slate.

If branches nominated the Democracy Alliance slate, these members should be reminded of this fact along with a recommendation to vote for the Alliance slate.

Even if a branch did not nominate the Democracy Alliance slate, branch committees can still recommend this slate to members.

Leaflets explaining the Democracy Alliance record and programme are available. These should be used in offices where possible, or by leafleting outside offices.

Left Unity activists have been sent a ballot pack containing guidelines on how to maximise the vote for Democracy Alliance candidates. That pack also contains materials to use to help make recommendations and for getting out the vote.

Left Unity membership is just under 1,000. It only takes each Left Unity member to persuade ten people to vote Democracy Alliance and this election will be well on its way to being won.

The PCS left leadership is one of the most consistent and effective critics of the Tories’ austerity programme. We have launched the pay protest and campaign against the pay cap.

Linked with this are efforts to persuade the TUC and other public sector unions to take joint coordinated action on pay to scrap the pay cap. Continued support for these policies relies on the re-election of the Democracy Alliance leadership.


PCS pay fight

On 31 March PCS members backed a PCS day of action on pay in impressive numbers around the country. Members were protesting the 1% pay cap and demonstrating their support for the union’s pay demands.

The union claim of 5% or £1,200, a living wage of at least £10 an hour, for consolidated pay increases with no link to discredited performance systems and a return to national pay bargaining, was put to the Treasury on 2 March. It was rejected on 3 April by the chief secretary to the treasury who restated the government’s intention to continue the cap for all public sector workers.

The scale of civil service job cuts since 2011, with a further 100,000 jobs targeted in the life of this parliament, contradicts his ludicrous claim of a trade-off between pay and jobs.

So the PCS pay campaign will continue, as will our efforts to build support for coordinated action by public sector workers to break the 1% pay cap.

Chris Baugh PCS assistant general secretary (personal capacity)