"WHEN WILL Mark Haysom stop running the LSC as a PLC – before or
after his knighthood?" This was typical of the comments from the
Sheffield picket line about the chief executive of the Learning and
Skills Council (LSC) last Friday, 28 April.
Marion Lloyd, PCS national executive committee
PCS members in the LSC mounted a successful one-day strike,
protesting against the management plans to axe 1,120 jobs – at the same
time as recruiting 700 new staff!
Funded by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the LSC is
responsible for funding and planning education and training for over 16
year-olds in England.
Despite this being a public-sector organisation, the management there
have employed some of the worst private management practices in order to
cull jobs.
It is hardly surprising – before Mark Haysom was appointed chief
executive of the LSC in August 2003, he had spent almost 30 years in the
newspaper industry.
As managing director of national newspapers for Trinity Mirror, he
was responsible for the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror, Sunday People,
Scottish Daily Record and Sunday Mail. So he’ll be well versed in
private sector management practices!
Remember, it was the LSC under his leadership who tried to get an
injunction against the civil service strike on 5 November 2004.
He has already put workers through his "Agenda for Change" programme,
which shrunk the staffing numbers by 25%. He claimed those proposals
will not only make it a smaller, more dynamic organisation but also
release savings of some £40 million per year which would benefit 80,000
adults or 12,000 young learners.
Well, he obviously got that wrong, so he’s having another go! Playing
with people’s lives and livelihoods, the LSC are not only ruthlessly
sacking more than 1,000 workers but attempting to recruit new workers to
take their place. The employer proposes to make people redundant on
inferior terms and refuses the call from PCS for a ‘no compulsory
redundancy’ agreement, despite the fact that any compulsory redundancies
are avoidable.
PCS members in the LSC have said enough is enough! This is
particularly significant given that this is a new organisation with a
young history of trade union activity and organisation. In a magnificent
64% turnout – the highest turnout for a strike ballot for some years –
more than 87% members voted "yes" for discontinuous strike action.
In Sheffield, more than 20 pickets turned out to demonstrate their
anger at the behaviour of their management. New members were being
recruited into PCS on the picket line and union membership in this
organisation has grown significantly in the last few weeks. Reports
indicate that this tremendous level of support has been repeated up and
down the country.
A work to rule starts on 2 May – if management don’t concede, further
action is threatened. So they’d better take note!
