Steve Ion, Liverpool Socialist Party
PCS members working for the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in Liverpool were out on strike 9-10 December. Members in the Complex Enquiries Team took strike action, supported by members in the Customer Services team working to rule until 24 December.
The dispute is over a new customer contact system called Max Contact, which uses AI to ‘streamline’ the process with a WebChat facility. Understandably, users prefer to deal with a member of staff directly.
PCS is asking for this new system to be withdrawn or amended. So far, its implementation has been put back until next year.
In addition, extra work is also being passed on to the workers from the outsourced call centre run by Hinduja Brothers-owned HGS, where workers have had their own recent pay dispute.
Six Socialist Party members, including Dave Semple, the union’s national vice president, visited to support the picket over the two-day strike, discussing escalation and routes to victory with strikers and branch officers.
