Reece Lawton, PCS NEC member, personal capacity
As previously reported in the Socialist, the impasse at the top of the PCS civil service union was broken on 7 July when the National Executive Committee (NEC) left majority voted under protest to accept the undemocratic standing orders (meeting rules) insisted on by the general secretary Fran Heathcote. Up till that point, she had shut down the NEC and the National Disputes Committee.
Now we can get on with the business of fighting and winning for members. Thankfully, this means that, among others, the strike at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was finally given the go-ahead, and on 15 July a mass picket was joined by NEC members.
An NEC meeting was called on 15-16 July to discuss, among other things, the union’s response to the Labour government’s inadequate 3.5% civil service pay remit, and the refusal of the Cabinet Office to reopen talks.
The NEC majority is clear that in order to achieve the demands agreed at conference in May, we need to mount a major industrial campaign against the employer.
The initial position of the general secretary was that we should accept the pay remit, with all of the strings attached (which include keeping the lowest paid at minimum wage levels), and rush into delegated pay talks in each separate employer area.
U-turn
But in a remarkable U-turn, the general secretary’s office wrote to the NEC majority’s senior officers in order to align the general secretary’s proposals with those of the NEC majority. This is due to the pressure of the members, articulated by the NEC majority.
The NEC majority motion, submitted by deputy president Dave Semple, contained only one key difference to the general secretary’s paper – that the proposed reduction of contractual hours should not be welcomed as it would leave future Admin Assistant grades (AAs) £3,300 worse off a year. We say that reduction of hours should not involve loss of pay – for existing or future staff – who are likely to include insourced workers. Our starting point is to defend everyone, rather than the complete levelling down of our pay, terms and conditions.
The general secretary’s paper and the NEC majority motion were passed unanimously.
So the stage is set for a major cost-of-living campaign. Pay claims will be submitted in all groups and bargaining units on the basis of the national pay claim for 10% and an £18 per hour minimum, with measures to ensure that the AA grades do not remain permanently on the national minimum wage, and other related demands.
These demands represent a single programme around which the union can unite members across departments and bargaining units. Instead of fragmented struggles, members in every workplace can fight in a shared national campaign.
The general secretary has agreed, at last, to take the first steps towards popularising our demands, with bulletins, website articles and social media communications. Material is to be cleared by the National Disputes Committee. An NEC statement should also be issued to the membership without delay.
Further measures include a speakers’ briefing for workplace meetings; a letter to the PCS Parliamentary Group requesting support; the preparation of parliamentary questions; and an examination of whether a parliamentary petition capable of securing a debate can be successfully launched. We are also seeking a meeting with Andy Burnham and his team to advance the union’s case, with the outcome to be reported back to the NEC.
These decisions mark an important advance, after months in which the national campaign has been blocked. But it would be a serious mistake to confuse an agreement to do something with it being done. These steps must be taken, and used to organise meetings, recruit new activists, and prepare members for the struggles that lie ahead. The campaign will only be won if PCS members recognise it as their own campaign and have confidence in the leadership to fight and win.
We call on all reps who want to build a fighting, democratic union with a socialist programme that could win for members to join the PCS Broad Left Network, and unite to build a massive cost-of-living campaign.
Defending trans+ members through collective action
The NEC also agreed a significant motion setting out PCS’s response to attacks on the rights of trans+ members. It commits the union to urgently bring together the National Disputes Committee, PCS Proud and PCS Legal to develop legal advice for reps, explore the potential of a judicial review of the government guidance, support members facing discrimination, and to restore the PCS Trans Awareness course under the direction of PCS Proud.
Rights are defended not only in the courts but in every workplace. The motion commits PCS to making clear to negotiators that, in the overwhelming majority of workplaces, the government guidance cannot be implemented as proposed. It instructs the National Disputes Committee to produce urgent bargaining guidance for branches and groups to resist exclusionary changes and to defend any members affected.
This overturns the previous approach of the national leadership and ensures that PCS union fights for all its members – women, LGBTQ+ members, Black and Asian, disabled, old and young.
Fighting job cuts at the Foreign Office
PCS members at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) took a day of a strike action on Thursday 16 July and will take three and half more days before the end of the month, plus action short of a strike. The action is due to a long-running dispute over job cuts – originally the FCDO wanted to cut up to 25% of UK-based staff but the employer says job cut numbers may now be less than that. If this is the case, it’s due to union pressure to take measures to avoid compulsory redundancies. PCS fears that vital expertise and experience will be lost with such a heavy job cull; this is particularly the case when it comes to staff dealing with aid and overseas development work. Vital projects in conflict and crisis areas of the world could be hit hard.
PCS is fighting for a no compulsory redundancy agreement and for an end to the job cuts. Support the action, come to the picket line and make a donation to the strike fund!
PCS members
