How can we turn this around?

Broad Left Network supporters in PCS in DWP

85% of members of civil service union PCS in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) pay ballot have voted for strike action.

But the 37% turnout fell short of the 50% threshold set by the Tories’ 2016 anti-trade union laws. This means there is no legal mandate for the strike action which we need to achieve our pay demands.

It is disgraceful that Keir Starmer’s Labour government has still failed to scrap this anti-union legislation. Our union should be giving the lead in challenging the Starmer government – we need a fightback, and we need a political voice that actually represents the interests of our members.

But the key questions are why did we fail to breach the threshold, and what is to be done?

40,000 DWP members are facing the fourth year in a row on minimum wage. Pay has been eroded by over a third, there is chronic understaffing, and workers are being forced back into the office (instead of hybrid working) for an extra 20% of their time.

There is a strong mood for action on pay. That is clear from the members’ meetings that have taken place across the country and from the overwhelming ‘yes’ vote.

The PCS DWP group leadership – which is dominated by the same misnamed ‘Left Unity’ group that has a majority on the union’s National Executive Committee (NEC) – has pinned the blame largely on postage delays.

It is true that more than a dozen delivery offices have reported having to prioritise parcels over letters, meaning post has been delayed in some areas. However, this is unlikely to account for the 5,000 additional ballot papers needed to reach the 50% strike ballot threshold.

Lacklustre leadership

The truth is that the union leadership has not implemented what the members instructed them to do at our 2025 conferences. They delayed balloting, watered down the demands, and ran a lacklustre campaign.

PCS conference back in May 2025 voted for a national campaign for a 10% pay rise, genuine hybrid working, opposition to job cuts, and restoration of pension overpayments. But no campaign was implemented and the leadership accepted the government pay remit.

The DWP Group conference also voted to campaign on pay: for a 10% rise, and a sliding scale of wages to stop our members repeatedly falling to minimum wage.

But the DWP pay ballot didn’t take place till four months after the imposed, inadequate pay ‘rise’ was already in our pay packets. The DWP Group Executive Committee (GEC) decided to demand ‘pay flexibility’ – more money to the lower grades and an increased pay gap between grades. Such a vague demand failed to inspire members. In reality the leadership was trying to fit within the paltry government pay remit rather than challenge it.

In addition, the leadership did nothing to mobilise the membership to build for industrial action. When increased hybrid attendance was imposed, the leadership just sent out a survey, and mounted no opposition either to these changes or to the office closures announced at four sites.

To win, we need a serious, concerted campaign that inspires the confidence of members.

Low pay and all the other issues have not gone away. But we need a leadership that will campaign, place demands on the employer, and mobilise members to fight, giving reps the tools to do so.

Nominate BLN-supported candidates for NEC and DWP

The PCS Broad Left Network (BLN), in which Socialist Party members participate, stands for a fighting, democratic union. Supporters of the BLN are collaborating with other lefts in the union in a ‘coalition for change’, seeking nomination for election to the NEC and DWP GEC.