PCS members in the union's BEIS group, working for private company ISS, are on a 36-day strike. Marion is President of PCS BEIS group. Photo: Rob Williams
PCS members in the union's BEIS group, working for private company ISS, are on a 36-day strike. Marion is President of PCS BEIS group. Photo: Rob Williams

PCS members are campaigning for change

A PCS member

Ballot papers in the election for general secretary and assistant general secretary (AGS) in the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) went out on 9 November. Socialist Party member and chair of the PCS Broad Left Network (BLN) Marion Lloyd is standing for general secretary and has the backing of 80 branch nominations. Her running mate is John Moloney of the Independent Left group in PCS and the incumbent AGS, who has 87 branch nominations.

Union activists and socialists have been campaigning among PCS’s 190,000 members, promoting a fighting programme and encouraging a vote for Marion and John. Leafleting has taken place at workplaces across the country, with BLN supporters either desk-dropping election material or otherwise leafleting from outside workplaces. The reports received so far have been of friendly and positive responses from union members.

Their opponents, Fran Heathcote, who is the current national president, and Paul O’Connor, who is currently an unelected full-time officer, are part of the Left Unity group in PCS. In a sign of their uneasiness, both candidates have refused to take part in some hustings organised by branches, regional committees or town/city committees. Instead, they have been using the union machine to promote themselves. Personal attacks on Marion and John have also started in a coordinated fashion on social media.

However, union members will care little for this style of campaigning, and will be demanding to know what each candidate will do for their falling rates of pay, threats to their jobs and redundancy rights, and poor working conditions.

A key theme in these elections is the state of the union’s national campaign on pay, jobs and pensions. Marion is standing on a platform of rebuilding the union’s national campaign and to develop an industrial plan to win, including national strike action, supported by targeted, selective action, and action short of strike.

Maximising turnout in the elections will be crucial and anyone who wants to support Marion and John’s campaign should visit bln.org.uk.