Who runs PCS? Support the call for a special delegate conference

PCS member in DWP

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pay offer was finally published to all DWP staff on 14 October. The Labour government set an overall civil service pay remit of 5% and then each department makes offers within that remit. Incredibly, in DWP the lowest grades have been offered only a 4% increase, with an additional 1% as a one-off, while some higher grades have higher increases.

The offer does little to address over a decade of real-terms pay cuts. Whilst it is above inflation, the difference is marginal. The lowest grades – Administrative Assistants and Administrative Officers – are likely to find themselves on the minimum wage in April for the third year in a row.

This award will also lead to worse terms and conditions if we do not mount a serious campaign for more funding, as 3% of the pay bill is unfunded and so will come from other areas. For DWP members, this directly translates to continued understaffing and therefore increased workloads on an already stressed workforce. There is also the risk of more office closures.

Correctly, this pay offer was rejected by the PCS union DWP group committee. The majority on the DWP committee is held by the ‘Left Unity’ grouping, the same group which was ousted from its majority on the National Executive Committee (NEC) at the last elections, but which still holds the general secretary and president positions. Many members want to know whether there is any bite behind the bark.

It’s not enough to symbolically reject something. The Left Unity leadership should now be urgently preparing DWP members for a campaign, leading to a statutory ballot on pay, staffing and other PCS demands. DWP is the biggest group in the union – a strong fight could reinvigorate the national campaign which the general secretary and president are blocking nationally.

The new NEC majority, which includes Socialist Party members and Broad Left Network supporters, has consistently advocated that we use our industrial strength to maximise the pay award, rejecting the 5%, with plans drawn up for a serious campaign. The national president (who is also DWP vice president) has undemocratically blocked every attempt to do this at the NEC, unconditionally supported by the DWP group president who also sits on the NEC.

The way to break the logjam is to back the call for a Special Delegate Conference (SDC). See ‘Rebuild a fighting union: Support the call for a special delegate conference’ at bln.og.uk.

Under pressure

The call for an SDC is gathering support from branches reps across the civil service. The general secretary and president are clearly feeling the pressure. In a blatant abuse of their positions, they have sent an email to every member of each branch that has passed the motion calling for an SDC, arguing against the points contained in the motion. An answer to this attack can be found at bln.org.uk.

Meanwhile, PCS HQ has also asked each branch that has submitted the motion to provide information on the number of members present at the meeting (specifying ‘Emergency General Meetings’), and a copy of the minutes. Neither of these are required by the union’s rules, nor that the meetings should be EGMs – though the NEC majority is keen to hold EGMs to ensure maximum participation of members in discussion.

This is a sure sign that the pressure is building, and that we need to continue speaking to reps and members to ensure the threshold to call an SDC is met – that is with motions from branches that represent 25% of the membership.