But PCS president and general secretary still try to sink campaign

In the October Budget, Labour proposed 2% ‘savings’ in government departments. As we go to press, the government is threatening a further 5% cuts – attacking overworked low-paid civil servants for alleged ‘poor performance’. 

Yet at its December National Executive Committee (NEC), the national president and general secretary of the PCS union, which organises the majority of workers in government departments, continued their months-long campaign to block any serious national campaign and throw out attempts of the membership to call them to account.

What follows is an edited version of a report by the PCS Broad Left Network. For the full report, see bln.org.uk

The December NEC opened with two major rows and a threat by the national president to adjourn the NEC, which he did not carry out.

NEC member Marion Lloyd queried why the agenda didn’t include a report on the large number of branches that had submitted motions calling for a Special Delegate Conference (SDC).

Since September, reps and members across PCS have been asking questions about the lack of any serious campaigning action from the union – ever more important as Labour tighten the screws. This inaction is not for want of trying by the left majority of the NEC, which includes supporters of the Broad Left Network [BLN – in which the Socialist Party participates], the Independent Left and other independents.

Branches have been calling for an SDC to hold the leadership of PCS to account, especially president Martin Cavanagh and general secretary Fran Heathcote. This has been met with undemocratic manoeuvring by Cavanagh and Heathcote, including putting out messages directly to all members of branches passing a motion for an SDC, attacking the views of elected reps in those branches.

Cavanagh, chairing the NEC meeting, responded to Marion that all the submissions from branches were being treated as correspondence!

He claimed (without providing figures) that the vast majority had refused to stipulate whether their call for an SDC had been passed by an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM). But there is no requirement in the union rules for an EGM to be held.

Skewered

One NEC member skewered the argument that the president “cannot be sure that these motions were passed at valid EGMs” by pointing out that her branch EGM had passed two motions, and one of these had been circulated to the NEC (ie accepted as valid), whereas the one calling for an SDC had not.

Another reported that the executive committee of the Revenue and Customs group had voted to write to branches to suggest that they should call EGMs, but this decision had been blocked by the unelected group secretary, an employee of the union.

An NEC member asked that Cavanagh put to the vote a proposal that all the motions passed by branches be reported for debate before the NEC ended. Cavanagh would not do so, as he would have lost the vote. He issued a ruling that he would report back on the motions but, importantly given the urgency of the issue, failed to stipulate whether this would happen before the next NEC in mid-January.

This is how every NEC meeting has progressed since May. No matter what the left majority on the NEC puts forward in respect of building the union’s national campaign, 90% of it is simply vetoed by the president.

Strike levy

The paper put by the general secretary contained one recommendation only: to “pause the levy” that members have been paying to build up the strike fund for a major campaign.

It is remarkable that the general secretary came with nothing serious to propose to the NEC, but she has collaborated with the president to veto anything resembling a strategy since May. This included vetoing a motion proposed by the NEC majority at this December meeting.

Nevertheless, the question of the levy is important.

The levy was introduced in 2023 by the previous NEC. That NEC was led by the ‘Democracy Alliance’ and the mis-named ‘Left Unity’ grouping, which Cavanagh and Heathcote are both part of. It was ousted from its majority in the elections in May 2024.

The first time the levy was discussed by the NEC with the new left majority, in July, Marion Lloyd proposed that the levy be subject to a review, to make sure that it was fit for purpose and to reduce the burden on the lowest-paid members.

This proposal was agreed by the NEC but was never implemented, as it was missed off the Record of Decisions (the minutes) by the general secretary. An attempt to amend the record to include that decision was vetoed by the president – as it has been subsequently, every time the NEC majority has tried to raise it.

That hasn’t stopped the Left Unity grouping dishonestly campaigning to stop the levy.

The general secretary’s proposal to pause it was on the basis that the union’s strike mandate has now lapsed and there are no plans for immediate action. Put another way, Heathcote and Cavanagh have actively obstructed our national campaign, and are now arguing that, as we’re not planning immediate strike action, there is no need for the levy.

But you don’t take the bullets out of your gun when a shoot-out is looming.

Heathcote reported that there are preliminary discussions with the government on next year’s pay beginning soon. What a signal to send to ministers just prior to crucial talks, that we aren’t prepared to fight on pay!

And then there is the issue of jobs. PCS conference agreed to fight for 100,000 additional civil service jobs. But the Labour government has moved to redundancies in the Department for Transport, has just announced 5,600 job cuts in the Ministry of Defence, and is now threatening 5% cuts to government departments.

This government is not the friend of workers, and anyone who imagines that gains will happen for civil servants – or any other section of the working class – simply by osmosis, is wrong. We must be ready to fight.

PCS members fight victimisation

NEC member and Broad Left Network chair Marion Lloyd says:

“Major congratulations to the PCS union reps and members at HMRC Benton Park View, Newcastle, who pushed for and decisively won a strike ballot over the dismissal of three union reps. The employer must be told: this is not going away. Reinstate our reps now and avoid the pain of a prolonged dispute!

“This same day sees the escalation of the dispute of outsourced PCS members working for G4S and ISS. Pay up and bring these services back in-house.

“And brave members striking in the Disclosure and Barring Service over the imposition of an inferior system which will not deliver quality service for our communities.

“PCS is not a union whose members are to be messed with. Our members have steel and backbone. “Solidarity to all our brave reps and members struggling and striking for better.”