Fight Low Pay

Fight The Job Cuts

PCS CIVIL service union members in the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP)
are set for two more days strike action on 29 and 30 July as part of the
campaign for fair pay and to defeat the hated Performance Development System (PDS),
a discriminatory appraisal system intended to institutionalise low pay.

John McInally, (PCS national executive, and DWP Group Assistant Secretary personal capacity)

Anger over pay is being fed by the announcement by the DWP Secretary of
State Andrew Smith of how the first of 30,000 jobs cuts, announced by Gordon
Brown in his March Budget Statement, are to be delivered. DWP workers will
never forgive the repulsive sight of New Labour MPs clapping and baying as
Brown announced the job cuts.

There is a rising tide of anger as more civil servants realise that the
attacks on pay and the cuts are linked – they reflect the anti-public sector
obsessions of "enterprise" junkies like Blair and Brown who believe only the
private sector can deliver.

Members are increasingly determined PDS must go – they are determined low
pay must be tackled. The Left Unity led Group Executive Committee (GEC) is
currently running a ballot asking members to support a vote of "No Confidence"
in the DWP Executive Team over their treatment of DWP staff – a move that is
causing panic as this tiny bunch of "leaders" are becoming more and more
isolated, even from their own middle and senior managers. A major lobby of
Parliament is taking place on 14 July.

Campaign for services

And the implications of the cuts in civil service jobs are becoming
increasingly clear. Thousands of frontline jobs will go, services to the
public will be reduced or destroyed and there will be a massive reduction in
the quality of services. The cuts will impact on all communities in one way or
the other but, as usual, the most vulnerable sections of society will be the
worst hit.

These cuts were announced without any consultation with PCS; in reality
they were planned without any discussion with DWP senior managers who have
been effectively told to just get on with it.

There is a fundamental flaw in the government’s programme for DWP which
everyone but them seems to be able to see – you cannot deliver good quality
and vital services on the basis mainly of call centre and electronic
communication. Instead, easily accessible frontline services run by well
trained and motivated staff are needed.

PCS will oppose the cuts and has begun the hard work of building effective
alliances in the trade union movement and wider society to fight the
government’s plans. Our aim is not just to defend jobs and services – but to
campaign for good quality public services that people need and deserve.