Dave Semple, PCS vice president, personal capacity
After months of blockage from the general secretary and president, the PCS civil service union’s National Executive Committee (NEC) met on 15 January and passed a motion, moved by Broad Left Network (BLN) supporters Rob Ritchie and myself, outlining the threat facing our members from the new Labour government, and stating that the only way to get serious progress was to set course now for a dispute.
Labour has already announced cuts. Last July the government demanded 2% ‘savings’ from civil service budgets, then 5% cuts in the October Budget, and now we face the threat of 10,000 job cuts. ‘Voluntary exit’ schemes have already been announced in the Department for Transport, Ministry of Defence and the Cabinet Office.
Recognising that many PCS members in the commercial sector are already in a massive fight, and that the situation might be different in devolved Scottish and Welsh areas, the motion outlines how the union must now urgently prepare the ground among members for the likely battle to come.
It sets out that NEC liaison officers should seek immediate engagement with reps across the union, to gain input into how we build momentum towards the kind of campaign that can win members’ key demands.
Block by president and general secretary
There has been no national campaign on pay, jobs, pensions etc since the premature winding up of our dispute in June 2023. A strike ballot from March to May 2024 won a mandate for action for over 20,000 members, and the 2024 conference expressly demanded that the NEC rebuilt the national campaign. But this mandate was never used and the campaign was blocked by the president and general secretary.
Inaction by the previous NEC (led by the ‘Democracy Alliance’, which includes the mis-named ‘Left Unity’ grouping) led to members making a historic change to the union’s leadership in the May 2024 elections.
A coalition of the BLN (in which Socialist Party members participate), Independent Left (IL) group and independent socialists won a majority on the NEC in May 2024. However, the positions of president and general secretary were retained by the old leadership that was otherwise swept away – Left Unity members Fran Heathcote and Martin Cavanagh.
Reps across the union are becoming increasingly aware of the role played by Cavanagh as president, blocking every significant move to build the campaign necessary to win for members. Cavanagh has ruled the NEC by presidential decree, vetoing any proposals from the NEC majority that counter what is recommended by the general secretary.
It is for this reason that many branches have passed motions calling for a Special Delegate Conference (SDC). But the total number that have written to Heathcote to call for an SDC has still not been revealed to the NEC!
NEC majority motion passed
So given all the obstruction up to now, how was the motion passed at the 15 January NEC?
Because the general secretary, in her national campaign paper, did not make a single recommendation!
There was nothing put forward about if and how the union would build a campaign to protect jobs, improve pay and conditions, or tackle the reports in the press over Christmas that signalled potential further attacks on our pensions.
Faced with their own poverty of ideas on how to fight for members, Heathcote and Cavanagh tried to claim that the proposals put forward by the NEC majority were what they had been saying all along.
NEC member and BLN supporter Fiona Brittle had only to read out the recommendations in previous papers from the general secretary to expose that.
The months of endless vetoes at the NEC delaying any kind of national campaign mean that the only serious course of action now is to go back to basics and build up campaigning momentum from scratch.
It could not be clearer that we need to fight hard to win a further left majority in this year’s elections – and that we also need a fighting president who will not obstruct the NEC majority from defending members when their jobs and pay are under attack.
If you are a PCS member reading this, then act now. Invite members of the BLN to speak at your regional, branch and group executive committees and members’ meetings, to discuss how we build the necessary campaign to win for our members.
We urge all reps to join the Broad Left Network in campaigning to rebuild a fighting, democratic PCS!
- A copy of the motion can be found on the BLN website bln.org.uk, along with more detail on the general secretary and president’s undemocratic tactics
BLN conference
The BLN conference on 18 January agreed its campaign priorities and the fighting, socialist candidates it will put forward in discussions with other lefts in the union, in order to achieve a united slate for the national and group elections. That includes proposing Socialist Party member Marion Lloyd for president.
