PCS members: Vote YES/YES!

PCS Broad Left Network

The Labour government’s Budget, the first under Andy Burham’s premiership, supposedly promising a ‘new direction’, makes one thing absolutely clear: Civil Service jobs, workloads and conditions remain firmly in the firing line. PCS members must respond with a resounding YES/YES vote in our national ballot.

Despite years of real-terms pay cuts, staffing cuts, office closures and attacks on our terms and conditions, the government is preparing to go even further. The Budget explicitly commits to delivering “significant reductions in its size and cost”, declaring that the Civil Service will become “smaller, more strategic”.

Clearly, this a euphemism for thousands more jobs losses, increased workloads for those who remain and further pressure on the public services that millions rely upon.

90,000 jobs at risk

The government has increased its planned reduction in departmental administrative budgets from 16% to 20% by 2029–30. Rather than backing down on the cuts planned by the Tory government, this Budget increases them. 90,000 jobs are at risk.

The Budget also announces £35 million for a new GovAI programme and £50 million for a Civil Service AI Transformation Fund.

New technology should be used to improve public services, reduce workloads and make working lives easier. But the government explicitly links AI adoption and digital transformation to its programme of spending reductions.

PCS must resist any attempt to use technological change as a vehicle for job losses, deskilling or the deterioration of working conditions. Productivity improvements should benefit workers and the public, not simply provide the Treasury with another opportunity to cut staffing costs.

In our dispute with the government, we are demanding a job security agreement, no compulsory redundancies and that efficiency improvements are put towards a shortening of the working week with no loss of pay.

While the Budget sets out detailed plans for cutting the Civil Service, it offers no specific commitments to improve Civil Service pay, pensions or terms and conditions.

There is no announcement of a meaningful pay rise to restore the value of our wages after years of real-terms cuts. No commitment to address the pension overpayments that have seen members paying more than they should. No guarantees against compulsory redundancies or further attacks on working conditions.

Voting ‘Yes’ is more important than ever

These announcements underline why PCS’s national campaign on pay, jobs, pensions and conditions is so important.

Our demands are both reasonable and necessary:

• A 10% pay rise as a step towards pay restoration, with a minimum wage of £18 an hour and proper pay progression
• Job security, an end to staffing cuts and opposition to compulsory redundancies
• Justice on pensions, including addressing the pension contributions members have overpaid
• Protection and improvement of our terms and conditions, with manageable workloads and properly resourced public services

Experience has shown that without sustained pressure, governments will continue to impose cuts while offering little in return.

We can force the government into negotiations and concessions through a massive mandate for industrial action, backed by members organised and ready to fight.

Vote YES to strike action. Vote YES to action short of a strike

Our national statutory ballot runs from 20 October to 1 December.