Dave Semple, PCS branch secretary Wigan, personal capacity
In the run-up to Christmas and continuing into the new year, PCS civil service members will be involved in a series of selective strikes.
The strikes are in support of the union’s 10% pay claim, and in defence of jobs and conditions. The action starts on 13 December, with strikes in the Rural Payments Agency and the Driving and Vehicle Standards Agency.
A 12-day period of rolling strikes will commence on 16 December in the National Highways Agency. And on 23 December, members in the Border Force start strikes which will stretch into the new year.
Linked to this action, but also targeting planned office closures, are strikes in four DWP offices over the period 19-31 December.
Socialist Party members in PCS support the union’s claim and are fully backing the members taking selective strike action. But we believe the failure to call national all-members action to launch the selective strike programme was a mistake: seen as a huge let-down by many activists, who point to the statutory ballot insert which said “We will call action involving all members…”
The Broad Left Network (BLN), a rank and file group which includes Socialist Party members, has put forward a strategy to win the dispute:
- Immediate and continuing all-member national strike action to maximise pressure on the employer
- Selective strikes supported by a levy consented to by members
- Immediate reballot of all those groups of members who failed to secure a strike mandate
- Immediate further ballot for action short of strikes
The current strategy of the union’s Left Unity leadership, which relies on selective strikes, needs urgent review. Central to the union’s strategy must be sustained all-member action.
