Nominate Marion Lloyd for general secretary and John Moloney for AGS
Socialist Party members in PCS
As we go to press, the ballot of PCS civil service union members on the future of the national pay campaign is drawing to a close.
In that ballot, the national leadership asked members: “Do you support PCS strategy to continue the campaign?” Whereas actually the strategy of the national leadership is to do the opposite of that: to cancel the strikes, postpone the reballots, and end the strike levy.
The PCS Broad Left Network (BLN), the rank-and-file socialist group in which Socialist Party members participate, argued that in order to continue the campaign it was necessary to vote ‘no’.
Whatever the outcome of this dishonest and confusing ballot, the national campaign will need to be rebuilt.
General secretary and AGS election
Now, PCS members will get the opportunity to nominate and vote for who they want to be general secretary and assistant general secretary of our union. Current general secretary, Mark Serwotka, is standing down.
The text below is taken from a BLN leaflet.
Marion Lloyd and John Moloney for PCS
The Broad Left Network has joined forces with the Independent Left in this election, and is supporting Marion Lloyd for general secretary and John Moloney for assistant general secretary. Nominations begin at the start of September.
The choice in these elections is simple. If you want more of the same, nominate the candidates from the current leadership, Fran Heathcote and Paul O’Connor. If you want to go for change, nominate Marion Lloyd and John Moloney.
We believe we need to change the leadership and their woeful record in the pay campaign. The dishonest ballot makes that change crucial and urgent.
Were you happy with the campaign on pay, jobs, pensions and the redundancy compensation scheme?
We weren’t.
The ballot
The ballot on pay was deliberately confusing. A ‘yes’ vote was dishonestly described as a vote to continue the pay campaign, when in fact it was actually a vote to end it.
The campaign
The pay campaign itself lacked any real urgency or determination.
Following the ‘yes’ vote for action in November 2022, it took the leadership over six weeks to call small-scale targeted strikes. It took them nearly three months to call an all-members national strike.
The concessions
The pressure of our action, and the more extensive strikes across public services, eventually forced the government to make a limited concession. But a non-consolidated, one-off lump sum of £1,500 (pro-rated) for 2022-23, and a 4.5-5% pay limit for 2023-24, was nowhere near good enough. It should have been rejected by the leadership. Instead, when the government blinked, the leadership blinked straight back.
The strategy
The whole approach of the current leadership now is to end the pay campaign while pretending to continue it. This is so their candidates can claim “we are still in dispute” even though they have called off strike action, reballots and the levy, and instructed employee groups to negotiate pay settlements within the government pay limit! This is a betrayal of members’ interests.
Marion Lloyd and John Moloney campaigned for a ‘no’ vote in the pay ballot. They argued for an escalation of the action to keep up the pressure for pay increases to match the cost-of-living crisis. They stand for ‘Action not Words’.
What to do
Make sure your branch has a meeting to nominate for general secretary and assistant general secretary (AGS)
Nominate Marion Lloyd for general secretary and John Moloney for AGS.
